Capital spending by Japanese companies rose in the July-September quarter, logging six straight periods of growth and signaling that the April 1 consumption tax hike had little impact on their eagerness to invest, the government said Monday.
Business investment by all nonfinancial sectors for purposes such as building plants and introducing new equipment in the three-month period gained 5.5 percent from a year earlier to ¥9.44 trillion, after growing 3.0 percent in the previous quarter, the Finance Ministry said.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, business investment, excluding spending on software, climbed a seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent from April-June, up for the first time in two quarters, the ministry said, raising the possibility that Japan's economic growth figures will be upgraded.