Capital investment by companies excluding the financial and insurance sectors fell 1.2 percent in the July-September period from a year ago, the Finance Ministry said Monday, adding to concerns over the impact of the U.S. housing loan mess.
The drop in capital investment marked the second consecutive quarterly decline on year, but the dip in the latest quarter is smaller. Capital spending on plants and equipment fell 4.9 percent in the April-June quarter.
The latest quarterly survey covered about 20,000 companies capitalized at ¥10 million or more.