Nissan today reported a slight increase in second-quarter profit, beating analyst estimates, as record sales in the US dulled the impact of a slowdown in China.
Japan's second biggest car maker said operating profit reached 139.34 billion yen ($1.20 billion) in the three months from July to September.
This compared with the 130.67 billion yen average estimate of 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The company has reported operating profits of 135.94 billion yen the same time last year.
Sales fell in each month in the quarter in China, the world's biggest car market, where a slowing economy and lingering anti-Japanese sentiment is leading to fewer passenger cars and commercial vehicles leaving showrooms.
Weakness in China and other emerging markets led Nissan to lower its global sales forecast by 200,000 vehicles, the company said.
In contrast, generous incentives in the US helped Nissan to record second-quarter sales.
That was followed by car makers reporting their strongest October sales in a decade thanks to increased consumer spending and lower petrol prices.
Nissan also said robust sales in North America - its biggest market - helped offset weak demand in Japan where the consumer tax was raised in April, as well as uncertainty in Russia.
Nissan has been hit by a sharp decline in the Russian rouble against European currencies since the onset of the Ukraine crisis, because most of the cars it sells in Russia - its fifth-largest market - are manufactured in Britain and Europe.
The quarterly result was marginally pushed up by an 8% decline in the yen against the US dollar.
Among Japan's top five car makers, Nissan benefits the least from a weaker yen - which raises the value of repatriated earnings - because it has a greater proportion of overseas production.
The currency has since passed 113 yen for the first time since December 2007 after Japan's central bank expanded its economic stimulus measures.
