YOKOHAMA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co Ltd lifted its operating profit forecast by 6.5 percent on Monday after better-than-anticipated results in the third quarter, citing brisk sales from new products, favourable exchange rates and cost cuts.
Japan's No. 2 carmaker by sales said it now expects operating profit of 570 billion yen ($4.79 billion) instead of the previous forecast of 535 billion yen for the year to end-March. A poll of 29 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S puts the profit of 589.9 billion yen.
For the October-December quarter, operating profit nearly doubled to 156.0 billion yen, far better than the 121.42 billion yen estimated by 12 analysts. Growth was helped by a low base of comparison from the year-earlier quarter, when earnings were pushed down by increased spending on marketing and other costs.
($1 = 118.9300 yen) (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)