Tokyo  - Japan's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp, is implementing a series of cost-cutting measures to weather the global financial crisis and its resulting fall in car sales.

Toyota has put a project to develop a diesel motor with Isuzu Motors Ltd on ice, Japanese media reported Tuesday, citing informed sources.

The engine was to be used in small cars for the European market.

Tokyo  - Stocks in Tokyo fell in Tuesday morning trading after a drop in US industrial production and overnight declines on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 56.5 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 8,608.16.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also was down 11.86 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 835.07.

Investors were also cautious, traders said, as they await the results of a US Federal Reserve meeting later Tuesday. The central bank was expected to further slash interest rates.

Tokyo - Suzuki Motor Corporation has withdrawn from the rally world championship as a result of the world economic crisis, the Japanese company announced on Monday.

The move comes 10 days after another Japanese carmaker, Honda, quit Formula One racing for the same reason.

"In responding to the contraction of the automotive sales caused by recent global economic turmoil, Suzuki has been promptly taking possible countermeasures."

Suzuki said it has decided to "focus on the core business functions" and as a result "concluded to suspend the WRC activities from 2009."

Tokyo - Stocks in Tokyo surged Monday on speculation that US automakers would receive a government bail-out and the rise of the dollar against the yen.

The developments outweighed the biggest drop in business confidence among Japan's largest manufacturers in 34 years because analysts said the drop was expected and the market had already factored it in.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 428.79 points, or 5.21 per cent, to close at 8,664.66.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also was up 33.56 points, or 4.13 per cent, at 846.93.

Tokyo  - Business confidence among Japan's largest manufacturers fell the most in 34 years, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey revealed Monday.

An index that measures confidence among the largest makers of cars and electronics dropped to minus 24 from minus three, according to the survey.

A negative reading indicates a majority of businesses were pessimistic. The fifth quarterly decline in a row in business sentiment followed a record low in consumer confidence last month.

The fall indicated that many companies were likely to slash more jobs and drastically lower spending, which would push the world's second-largest economy into a deeper recession.

Tokyo  - This year's holidays are looking gloomy for Japan's temp workers as the nation's manufacturing sector reduces its output due to the global recession.

Japan's exporters have suffered slowing demand, especially in the United States and Europe, as businesses have revised their earnings forecasts for the full year through March 31.

Behind the corporate pessimism, more than 3.2 million workers who are outsourced via temporary staffing companies have become the first victims of cost cuts.

The nation's leading automaker, Toyota Motor Corp, was slapped with a 50-per-cent reduction in net and operating profits between April and September and ended up lowering its full-year earnings projections.