Capital spending by domestic firms rose 3.8 percent year-on-year in the October-December period, marking a turnaround as companies sought to boost output, government data showed Wednesday.

Business investment by all non-financial sectors for purposes such as building plants and introducing new equipment came to ¥10.94 trillion ($97 billion).

Lifted by moves to sell underperforming businesses, pretax profits at businesses in all sectors covered in the poll jumped 16.9 percent from a year earlier to a record-high ¥20.76 trillion, according to the Finance Ministry.