By Minami Funakoshi
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese business expenditure rose in the final three months of last year from the previous quarter, data showed on Wednesday, in a tentative sign of a pick-up in capital spending.
The higher spending should offer a modicum of relief to policy makers looking for a signs of a sustainable economic recovery.
The data comes against a backdrop of a recent run of soft indicators, including exports and factory output, underscoring the heightened uncertainty about the economic outlook.
Japanese companies raised spending on plant and equipment in October-December by 3.8 percent from the same period a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday.
That followed a 1.3 percent year-on-year decline in capital spending in the previous quarter.
The data will be used to calculate revised gross domestic product figures due on March 8.
A preliminary estimate showed the world's third-largest economy grew an annualised 1.0 percent in October-December as a weaker yen supported exports, while tepid private consumption and the risks of rising U.S. protectionism cast doubts over a sustainable recovery.
Many economists originally forecast that capital expenditure would gradually increase this year, but growing concerns that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may adopt protectionist trade policies could cause companies to scale back investment.
Tuesday's data on industrial output offered little cheer, with production unexpectedly falling in January for the first time in six months, pressured by a slowdown in shipments of cars to the U.S.
Japanese policymakers hope capital spending will help drive growth in the world's third-largest economy as it struggles to vanquish years of deflation and stagnation.
(Reporting by Minami Funakoshi; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim & Shri Navaratnam)
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