CORRECTED: Toyota shares rise after report of record profit

Shares in Japanese auto giant Toyota advanced in Tokyo morning trade on Friday following a report it is set to book a record operating profit in the six-month period to September.

Toyota's shares were up 2.11 percent, or 128 yen, at 6,173 yen about thirty minutes after the opening bell.

Toyota's operating profit in the April-September period appeared to have risen by four percent from a year earlier to some 1.3 trillion yen ($12 billion), the leading Japanese business daily Nikkei reported.

The rise in profit is due to brisk sales in North America and elsewhere helped by a cheaper yen, it said.

Toyota may revise up its net profit forecast for the full year to March, it said.

The company has sold some of its shares in US electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, following Tesla's earlier announcement it will stop supplying Toyota with lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles by the year-end, the Nikkei also reported.

Toyota however plans to continue to work with Tesla in such areas as technology for plug-in hybrid vehicles, it said.

Toyota plans to announce its latest earnings report on November 5.

kh/st