Japan’s Oct.-Dec. capital spending up 7.7% on year

Capital spending by Japanese companies gained 7.7 percent in October-December from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Investment by all nonfinancial sectors for purposes such as building factories and adding equipment totaled 12.44 trillion yen ($91 billion).

Pretax profits decreased 2.8 percent to 22.38 trillion yen in the quarter.

The data will be reflected in revised gross domestic product data for the quarter, to be released by the Cabinet Office on March 9.