— Japan Q2 Non-Financial Firm Capex +7.7% Y/Y; MNI Forecast +8.9%
— Japan Q2 Non-Financial Firm Capex Posts 3rd Straight Y/Y Rise
— Japan Q2 Capex (Ex-Software) +6.6% Y/Y Vs Q1 +3.5%
— Japan Q2 Capex (Ex-Software) S/A -0.5% Q/Q; MNI Forecast +0.9%
— Japan Q2 Manufacturer Capex +14.7% Y/Y Vs Q1 +3.8%
— Japan Q2 Non-Manufacturer Capex +3.9% Y/Y Vs Q1 +3.0%
— Japan Q2 Non-Fncl Firm Current Profit +11.5% Y/Y Q1 +9.3%
TOKYO (MNI) – Combined capital investment by non-financial Japanese
companies expanded for a third straight quarter in the April-June
quarter, led by recovering profits on solid domestic demand and showing
some resilience against the global slowdown, a government survey showed
on Monday.
The quarterly survey by the Ministry of Finance is the key to
calculating revisions to Q2 GDP due out on Sept. 10.
Non-financial firm capex surged 7.7% on year in the three months to
June 30, rebounding from a sharp 7.8% drop seen a year before, when
Japan was trying to recover from the March 11 disaster.
It followed a 3.3% rise in the first quarter and a 7.6% gain in
the final quarter of 2012.
The headline figure was the best reading since Q1 of 2007, when
capex rose 13.6%, but it was slightly worse than the median forecast for
a 8.9% rise by economists in a MNI survey.
Business investment excluding spending on software rose 6.6% from a
year before in Q2, also three consecutive quarters of a year-on-year
rise, following a 3.5% increase in the previous quarter.
In the manufacturing sector, capex rose 14.7% in Q2 following a
3.8% increase in the previous quarter, the MOF survey showed.
Capex in the non-manufacturing sector increased 3.9% in Q2
following a 3.0% growth in the previous quarter.
On a seasonally adjusted, quarter-over-quarter basis, capex
excluding spending on software fell 0.5% in the June quarter following a
revised fall of 2.0% in the previous quarter.
The quarterly survey by the MOF also showed that the combined
current profits before extraordinary items of non-financial firms at the
parent level surged 11.5% from a year earlier in the second quarter,
posting the second consecutive year-on-year rise, following a 9.3% rise
in the previous quarter.
It was the highest increase since +27.3% in Q4 of 2011.
The ministry surveyed 31,558 companies with capital at or above Y10
million and received replies from 22,720.
The survey is the last piece of data from the demand side used to
compute revisions to gross domestic product for the fourth quarter due
out on Sept. 10. Capex in preliminary GDP data is based solely on the
supply side estimate.
In the preliminary GDP data released on Aug. 13, the economy
expanded a real 0.3% q/q (annualized +1.4%) in Q2 while capex rose 1.5%
q/q (annualized +6.3%).
tokyo@marketnews.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-6860-4821 **
[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MAJDS$,MT$$$$]
