Capital spending by Japanese companies expanded 2.5 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier to 13.3 trillion yen, marking the fifth increase in a row, the Finance Ministry said Thursday in its quarterly survey.

The brisk investment in plants and equipment was led by manufacturers of information technology-related products, the ministry said.

Due to the current deflation, however, growth of corporate sales and profits slipped in the latest quarter, with sales posting a 2.8 percent year-on-year rise -- compared with the previous quarter's 4.2 percent -- and pretax profits unchanged from a year before.