Japanese capital spending rose in the April-June quarter, logging its first increase in three quarters as the weakened yen and policy effects shored up stocks and companies and prompted the corporate sector to beef up investment, the government said Monday.
Companies' higher spending on plants and new equipment suggests a brighter outlook for the world's third-largest economy and could prompt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to conduct the first stage of the doubling of the sales tax next year, analysts said.
Business investment by all nonfinancial sectors gained 0.02 percent from a year earlier to ¥8.31 trillion in the three months through June, following a 3.9 percent fall in the previous quarter, the Finance Ministry said.