Nomura Holdings Inc. narrowed its profit decline forecast for Japanese companies in the 2009 business year, citing benefits from favorable currency-exchange rates and cheaper oil.
Current profit, or pretax profit from operations, will drop 16 percent at nonfinancial companies in the year ending next March, narrower than the 21 percent slide Nomura had forecast in March, strategists Takashi Ito and Tetsuya Hasegawa wrote in a report dated Tuesday. The upward revision was Nomura's first since September 2007.
The yen will trade at an average of 97 against the dollar this year, weaker than a previous prediction of 92.5, the brokerage said. Crude oil is forecast at be $53.30 a barrel, lower than the average of $85.90 last year, according to the report. Nomura, Japan's biggest securities house, also expects restructuring and depreciation costs to diminish at companies using U.S. accounting standards, according to the report.