日本企业纷纷削减投资

Japanese firms cut their investment in business expansion during the second quarter, indicating continued fears about Japan's economic growth.

受对日本经济发展之担忧的影响，各企业纷纷在第二季度削减业务扩张投资。

Companies spent 7.7tn yen ($101bn; £62bn) on plant and equipment, a 7.8% decline from a year earlier, the ministry of finance said.

This was the first year-on-year decline in investment in four quarters.

Japan's economy is currently in a recession, and has contracted for three consecutive quarters.

"There are negative tendencies in the overseas markets due to concerns of a global economic slowdown," Junko Nishioka of RBS Securities told the BBC.

"That is driving the negative sentiment among Japanese manufacturers," she added.

Yen factor

A slowdown in key markets such as the US and Europe has dealt a double blow to the Japanese manufacturers.

First, demand from these two markets has declined, hurting growth in Japan's export-dependent economy.

To make matters worse, uncertainty about growth in the developed economies has seen investors flee to safe-haven assets such as the yen, sending the value to the Japanese currency to record levels in recent days.

The yen has remained strong despite two interventions by the government to try and weaken it.