Healthy sales, cheap yen help push Nissan quarterly profit up with North America, China growth

Healthy sales and a favorable exchange rate pushed up Nissan's fiscal first quarter profit nearly 37 percent, as vehicle sales grew in North America, China and other overseas markets.

Nissan Motor Co. reported a better-than-expected income of 112 billion yen ($1.1 billion) for April-June, up from 82 billion yen a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a quarterly profit of 85 billion yen ($835 million).

Quarterly sales jumped 10 percent to 2.466 trillion yen ($24.2 billion).

Nissan's vehicle sales grew in the robust North American market, on solid demand for the Rogue crossover and the Altima sedan, offsetting shaky Japan, where a rise in the consumption tax dampened sales overall.

Nissan kept its full year profit and sales forecasts unchanged.