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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Big Dog who wrote (34888)	9/6/2004 11:21:58 AM
From: quehubo	Respond to of 206181

Japan's Capital Spending Jumped 10.7% in Quarter Data Raise Hopes for Upward GDP Revision By MIYAKO TAKEBE DOW JONES NEWSWIRES September 6, 2004 6:12 a.m. TOKYO -- Japanese corporations continued to boost capital spending in the April-June quarter, a Ministry of Finance survey showed Monday, raising expectations that Japan's economic growth for the quarter will be revised upward. Business investment jumped 10.7% from the same period last year, after rising 10.1% in January-March quarter, according to the MOF survey, suggesting companies' spending on plant and equipment continued to support the economy in the fiscal second quarter. As the survey paints a more upbeat picture of capital investment than last month's preliminary second-quarter gross-domestic-product data, analysts say the government could make an upward revision to its GDP growth figure when it releases revised April-June GDP data on Friday. Preliminary data showed that flat capital spending and mediocre private consumption kept Japan's real GDP growth at 0.4% from the prior quarter, or an annualized 1.7%, in April-June, down from an annualized 6.6% expansion in the January-March period. Considering that the capital-spending data has roughly about a 50% weighting in revised GDP figures, April-June GDP could be revised upward to growth of 0.9%, or annualized expansion of 3.6%, said Peter Morgan, chief economist at HSBC in Tokyo. An upward revision to GDP "would probably give rise to the view that Japan's economic recovery isn't as feeble as some have come to see it," and may help underpin the yen against the dollar, said Tohru Sasaki, foreign-exchange strategist at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in Tokyo. The dollar slipped to a session low of ¥110.28 immediately after the data were released, before recovering to trade around ¥110.42 late in Asia. The U.S. currency may test the lower end of its recent ¥107-¥112 range this week ahead of Friday's revised Japanese GDP data, Mr. Sasaki said. The survey showed overall business investment grew for the fifth consecutive quarter and expanded at the fastest pace since the July-September quarter of 2001, according to a MOF official. Both manufacturers and nonmanufacturers contributed to the rise, with manufacturers lifting spending by 5.6%, while nonmanufacturers boosted investment by 13.0%. Increased investment in software also contributed to capital-spending growth, the MOF official said. Business outlays excluding software investment were up 9.7% in the April-June quarter, down from 10.2% in the January-March period. Overall, the data are encouraging as it comes after a string of disappointing economic indicators, which had suggested Japan's economic recovery was starting to run out of steam after a stellar performance earlier this year. For the fiscal year ended March 31, capital spending, excluding spending on software, was up 6.3%, marking the first rise in three years, other MOF data showed Monday. Write to Miyako Takebe at miyako.takebe@dowjones.com