Capital spending by Japanese companies increased 3.1% in the April to June period from a year earlier for the 13th straight quarterly rise, but a firming yen continued to hurt corporate profits, government data showed Thursday.

    Business investment by all non financial sectors for purposes such as building plants and introducing new equipment totaled 9.31 trillion yen about ($90 billion), the Finance Ministry said.

    Capital spending by manufacturers climbed 11.1% from a year earlier to 3.51 trillion yen, while business investment by the nonmanufacturing sector fell 1.3% to 5.81 trillion yen, Japan's News Agency (Kyodo) reported