Gloomy report hits Toyota shares

Toyota, the world's biggest car maker, is considering making cuts to its full time Japanese workforce for the first time since 1950, it has been reported.

Its comes as domestic production is set to fall below three million vehicles for the first time in three decades, said the Yomiuri newspaper in Japan.

Toyota's shares fell 3.9% to 3,720 yen ($37.87;£26) in Tokyo after the report.

The firm said it had yet to forecast its sales and production data for the current financial year.

Toyota has already cut production in the US, Canada, Mexico and the UK.

Strong yen

The firm has been introducing a range of measures - including pay cuts, voluntary redundancies, bonus cuts and shorter hours - to reduce costs.

It has already said it would post the first group-wide annual operating loss in its 70-year history, when its results are announced on 8 May.

Car companies are cutting back as a global slowdown reduces demand, and Toyota has been particularly hit by falling US sales.

Toyota expects to incur a net loss of 350bn yen ($3.6bn; £2.47bn) for the fiscal year ended March 2009.

The carmaker made a record 1.72 trillion yen profit in the previous financial year, but like other Japanese exporters it has been hit by a strong yen which has diluted its earnings overseas.

Toyota's global production for February were down 49.6% on a year earlier to 434,179 vehicles.

Meanwhile, domestic output for the month fell 56.4% on the year before to 207,743 vehicles.

Sensex falls by over 81 points

In volatile trading, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday fell by over 81 points in tandem with weak global trends but the central bank's reduction of key interest rates averted a major fall.

The Sensex, which touched an intra-day high of 11,068.82, dipped to a low of 10,764.08 points before ending with a loss of 81.39 points at 10,898.11.


Similarly, the 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 11.80 points at 3,365.30 after moving between 3,414.70 and 3,309.35 points.


Initial gains were wiped off after the Asian stock markets recorded heavy losses on renewed concerns over global economic weaknesses.


The day's losses were narrowed because of funds buying in stocks of interest rate-sensitive realty and fast-moving consumer goods after the Reserve Bank of India cut key interest rates to create liquidity in the market.


Selective buying by foreign funds in healthcare and teck stocks arrested the falling trend.


The major contributors to the weakening market were shares in banking, auto, capital goods, metal, IT, consumer durables, power, PSUs and refineries.

Debt overshadows US bank's profit

Concerns about debt levels at Bank of America have overshadowed its better than expected profits for the first three months of 2009.

The US's largest bank set aside $13.4bn (£9.2bn) to cover credit losses, from the fourth quarter's $8.5bn.

Its shares sank 24% and the news dragged other banking stocks lower.

This was despite net income soaring to $4.2bn in the first three months of 2009 from $1.2bn a year earlier, beating analysts expectations.

Its results were inflated by its purchases of Merrill Lynch, which added $3.7bn in net income, and Countrywide, which boosted its mortgage arm. Analysts said investors were looking beyond the bank's profit to the continuing concerns about the impact of the financial crisis on the banking system.

This sentiment pulled the Dow Jones index lower, with a knock-on effect on European markets.