Tokyo - Nintendo Co slashed its net profit and operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year that runs through March 31 after a stronger yen offset robust sales of game consoles, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese gaming company revised its net profit down by 16 per cent to 345 billion yen (3.54 billion dollars) and operating profit by 3 per cent to 630 billion yen from its August estimates.

But Nintendo maintained its sales forecast for the year at 2 trillion yen.

For the first half of this fiscal year, the company said it saw its net profit rise 9.4 per cent from the same period a year ago to 144.83 billion yen.

Tokyo - Sharp Corp on Thursday reported a 35.3-per-cent fall in its net profit for the April-September period from a year earlier due to slow mobile-phone sales and price reduction in liquid-crystal-display televisions.

The Japanese home electronics company logged a net profit of 28.01 billion yen (287.73 million dollars) and an operating profit of 50.76 billion yen for the first six months of the business year that runs through March 31.

Operating profit fell 35.8 per cent year-on-year.

Sharp reported sales of 1.56 trillion yen, which was 4.8 per cent lower than the previous year's figure.

Tokyo - Mitsubishi Motors Corp on Thursday lowered its earnings forecast for the fiscal year that ends on March 31 because of slow auto sales and the yen's recent rise against other major currencies.

The Japanese automaker dropped its operating profit projection to 50 billion yen (514 million dollars) from an initial 60 billion yen. Such profits would represent a 54-per-cent drop from last year.

The company also cut sales for the full year as the global financial crisis roils credit and stock markets and has sent sales down.

Tokyo - NEC Corp returned to the black in the second quarter of fiscal 2008 that runs through March 31.

The Japanese electronics company attributed a net profit of 1.28 billion yen (13.15 million dollars) in the July-September quarter to capital gains from selling shares. The result compared to a net loss of 5.72 billion yen in the same period a year before.

Operating profit for the second quarter plunged 42.4 per cent to 9.28 billion yen from 16.1 billion yen due to slow demand for telecommunication systems and microchips.

NEC reported sales of 1.13 trillion yen, up 0.5 per cent.

Tokyo - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average ended Thursday trading up nearly 10 per cent to above the 9,000 level after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to spur the economy.

The Nikkei surged 817.86 points, or 9.96 per cent, to end at 9,029.76.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also jumped 69.05 points, or 8.32 per cent, at 899.37.

Tokyo - The Tokyo stock market opened more than 3 per cent higher Thursday after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate to spur the economy.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 318.87 points, or 3.88 per cent, to 8,530.77.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was up 25.51 points, or 3.07 per cent, to 855.83.

Japan's central bank withdrew 1.5 trillion yen (15.41 billion dollars) from the money market Thursday after the key short-term interest rate fell below the official target.