Tokyo - Nissan Motor Co sharply cut its earnings forecast for the full year that runs through March 2009 on the yen's rise and slow overseas sales, the company said Friday.

Japan's third-largest automaker lowered its net profit projection by 53 per cent to 160 billion yen for the full year from an initial forecast.

Nissan halved an operating profit forecast at 270 billion yen for the full year and lowered sales by 7.2 per cent to 9.6 trillion yen.

For the second quarter through September, the automaker saw its net profit fall 38.8 per cent to 73.5 billion yen from a year before.

Tokyo - The Bank of Japan on Friday cut its key short-term interest rate to 0.3 per cent from 0.5 per cent to help the world's second-largest economy weather the global financial crisis.

The bank's policy board voted 5-4 to lower the rate for the first time in seven and a half years at the end of a one-day meeting.

Governor Masaaki Shirakawa cast a vote to support the rate cut, saying the nation's economy would need more time to recover amid weak exports and high raw material prices.

Tokyo - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 5 per cent Friday and fell below 9,000 despite the Bank of Japan's announcement of an interest-rate cut as investors turned bearish over lowered corporate earnings forecasts.

The Nikkei index dropped 452.78 points to close at 8,576.98.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 32.25 points, or 3.59 per cent, to 867.12.

Tokyo - Mizuho Financial Group Inc cut its earnings projections for fiscal 2008 that runs through March 31 due to the impact of the global financial crisis, the group said Friday.

Japan's mega banking group lowered its net profit by more than half to 250 billion yen (2.55 billion dollars) from an initial projection of 560 billion yen.

Mizuho Financial expected revenues of 3.8 trillion yen for the full year, down from an earlier forecast of 4.3 trillion yen.

Tokyo - Japan's core consumer price index (CPI) rose in September from a year before due to rising oil and food prices, and the nation's average household spending declined as people spent less on food, the government data showed Friday.

The nation's core CPI, excluding fresh food prices, rose 2.3 per cent in September, compared to a year before, as energy prices grew 14.7 per cent and non-perishable food prices rose 4.2 per cent, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.