Japan's business investment up 4% in Q4

Japanese firms' capital spending in the fourth quarter of 2013 rose 4 percent on yearly basis, up for the third straight quarter, local media reported Monday. The Japan Finance Ministry contributed the upturn to the yen's depreciation against the U.S. dollar, which prompted the corporate sector to bolster investment. Business investment by all non-financial sectors for purposes, such as building plants and introducing new equipment, totaled 9. 44 trillion yen (92.97 billion U.S. dollars), following a 1.5 percent climb in the previous quarter, said the ministry. But on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the data fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent from the three months period towards September, down for the second consecutive quarter, the ministry said, suggesting some firms are skeptical whether the world's third-biggest economy will continue to recuperate, given a planned sales tax hike in April. Monday's reading also showed capital spending by manufacturers rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier to 3.08 trillion yen (30.41 billion dollars), up for the first time in five quarters, while that of non-manufacturers logged a 5.7 percent rise to 6.36 trillion yen (62.79 billion dollars), up for the third straight quarter.