Toyota to boost profit forecast

Toyota Motor will hike its operating profit forecast for the year by 5.0 percent to 1.05 trillion yen ($13 billion) when it releases its earnings later Monday, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. The country's biggest automaker saw brisk sales in North America and Southeast Asia offsetting a drop in China revenue stemming from a territorial spat between Tokyo and Beijing, which rival Honda blamed for a 20 percent cut to its net profit forecast for the fiscal year to March, NHK said. Toyota, whose shares rose 2.22 percent to 3,210 yen in morning Tokyo trade, was also on track to boost its full-year net profit from an earlier forecast of 760 billion yen, NHK said without giving a revised figure. Japan's top three automakers -- Toyota, Nissan and Honda -- have seen their sales in China plunge since September, when Tokyo nationalised a South China Sea island chain also claimed by Beijing. The political row set off huge demonstrations across China and an informal boycott of Japanese exports, digging into sales of a wide range of consumer goods including cars and televisions. Many Japanese factories and businesses across China temporarily closed or scaled back operations over fears they or their workers could be targeted. Last week Toyota's smaller rival Honda slashed its full-year profit forecast to 375 billion yen from an earlier 470 billion yen, blaming the spat for weighing on its results. Earlier reports have said Toyota plans to cut its target of producing more than 10 million vehicles this year amid the strained Sino-Japanese ties.