Japan's automaker Nissan Motor Co said Monday its operating profit for the July-to-September quarter dropped 18.6% year-on-year to 163.9 billion yen (1.57 billion dollars) due to a stronger yen and falling sales in Japan. 
The company also booked a net profit of 146.1 billion yen for the fiscal second quarter, down 15.5% from the same period the previous year, while sales were down 12.1% to 2.67 trillion yen. 
Nissan's car sales in Japan declined 16% from a year earlier to 121,000 units for the quarter, while those in the United States, Nissan's biggest market, edged down 0.3% to 385,000, the carmaker said. 
Nissan did maintain its net profit forecast at 525 billion yen and operating profit outlook at 710 billion yen for the current financial year to March 2017, however, while sales were predicted at 11.8 trillion yen. 
Last month, Nissan completed its purchase of a 34% stake in scandal-hit Mitsubishi Motors for 237 billion yen.