Capital spending in the October-December quarter rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier to ¥9.71 trillion (about $81 billion), the government said Monday, signaling corporate willingness to keep increasing investment despite sluggish consumer spending.

Data released by the Finance Ministry also showed pretax profit at businesses in all sectors polled surged 11.6 percent to ¥18.07 trillion, the highest since 1954, according to comparable data, largely helped by a weaker yen.

The survey covered 31,164 companies capitalized at ¥10 million or more and drew valid responses from 22,952, or 73.6 percent.