Nintendo downgraded its annual sales forecast on Tuesday as net profit plunged 60 percent year-on-year in the first half, with fans awaiting the announcement of a new console.Last year, the Japanese video game giant scored with the smash-hit “Super Mario Bros” film and the release of “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, the fastest-selling game in nearly four decades of the Zelda franchise.But times are now tighter for the company, which has promised news on the successor to its popular but ageing Switch console by the end of March 2025.”Unit sales of both hardware and software were extremely high for the first half of the previous fiscal year,” Nintendo said, adding that the Mario movie had “energised our dedicated video game platform business”.”There were no such special factors in the first half of this fiscal year, and with Nintendo Switch now in its eighth year since launch, unit sales of both hardware and software decreased significantly,” it added.In the April-September period, Nintendo logged net profit of 108.7 billion yen ($710 million), down 60 percent from the same period a year earlier.The Kyoto-based company kept unchanged its downbeat full-year net profit forecast of 300 billion yen — a drop of nearly 40 percent from the 490 billion yen in 2023-24.It now expects sales of 1.28 trillion yen, down from the previous estimate of 1.35 trillion yen, and also issued a less optimistic operating profit forecast.The Switch, both a handheld and TV-compatible device, became a must-have distraction among all age groups during the Covid pandemic, but buzz around the console is fading.”Unit sales for the entire Nintendo Switch family of systems decreased 31 percent year-on-year to 4.72 million units” in the first half, Nintendo said on Tuesday.Software unit sales were down nearly 28 percent on-year, it added.For now “the company is focused on increasing sales of the current Switch console in 2024, so a lot of news flow about the next console may happen in mid-January 2025 and later”, Takeshi Koyama of Mizuho Securities said ahead of the results.For several years, Nintendo has been pursuing a strategy to reach a wider audience, analysts say.The company last month opened its first museum in a renovated factory in Kyoto, showcasing its long history since starting life in 1889 producing playing cards.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday he was “fully confident” the country would hit its economic goals this year, lauding recent stimulus measures and suggesting there was still room for more.China’s leaders have set an annual growth target of around five percent, but in the third quarter the country saw its slowest expansion in a year and a half as its post-pandemic recovery remained stubbornly uneven.The government has announced a raft of measures aimed at boosting activity, including rate cuts and the easing of some home purchasing restrictions, but analysts have criticised the lack of detail so far.  Observers hope a specific figure for the stimulus could emerge from this week’s meeting of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, the top body of China’s rubber stamp parliament. “We are fully confident in the realisation of this year’s goals and the development of China’s economy in the future,” Li said Tuesday at the opening ceremony of a major international trade show in Shanghai.Referring to the recent package of measures, Li, who has official responsibility for economic policy, said they had been “well-received”.”China’s major economic indicators have rebounded across the board, market confidence has increased significantly, social expectations have improved significantly, and there have been many positive changes in economic operation,” he said. An initial market rally when the measures were announced has since fizzled out, with investors put out by the lack of detail.But there have been glimmers of hope for the economy recently, including China’s manufacturing output expanding for the first time in six months in October.On Tuesday Li suggested that officials still had room to manouevre when it came to further measures. “In the face of downward economic pressure, we have the requirements for increasing counter-cyclical adjustments,” he said. “There is a relatively large space for financial and monetary policies, and the policy tools are even more abundant,” he added.

Asian markets fluctuated Tuesday as traders jockeyed for position a day before results from the US presidential election rolled in, with opinion polls showing the vote on a knife-edge as the two candidates wrapped up their campaigns.Uncertainty about the outcome and worries that the winner might not be known for days has led to warnings that investors could be in for a period of volatility.Eyes will also be on the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Thursday, with expectations for another cut, while the post-meeting statement from bank boss Jerome Powell will be pored over for an idea about its plans for 2025.A win for Republican Donald Trump is expected to boost the dollar, restoke inflation and send Treasury yields higher owing to his pledges to slash taxes and impose tariffs on imports.But analysts see less upheaval from a win by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.”Some view a second Trump term as a potential ticket to higher deficits and a dash of inflation, courtesy of his tax-and-tariff playbook,” said Stephen Innes at STI Asset Management.”A Trump victory with a Republican Congress would likely mean a green light for these pro-growth, deficit-stirring policies.”With Harris and a divided Congress, radical Democratic policies would face a wall, keeping fiscal volatility in check compared to Trump’s economic flamethrower.”He added that a Trump win and Republican sweep of both houses of Congress could cause headaches for Powell as he continues his battle to bring inflation to heel.National Australia Bank’s head of market economics, Tapas Strickland, said that after Thursday’s decision: “Harder discussions come in December and beyond, especially on the pace of potential cuts, where rates are likely to go, and any policy impacts by the next president and Congress.”Wall Street’s three main indexes ended in the red, and Asian traders battled to build on their broadly positive Monday performance, with markets swinging in and out of positive territory.Hong Kong and Shanghai rose as traders await the end of a government meeting this week to hammer out an economic stimulus.Officials are expected to give the go-ahead to about $140 billion in extra budget spending, mostly for indebted local governments, and a similar one-off payment for banks.Tokyo rallied more than one percent as investors returned from an extended weekend, while Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta and Manila also advanced. Sydney, Singapore and Seoul edged down.Oil prices inched down after surging almost three percent Monday after top producers agreed to extend output cuts through to the end of December and on worries about the Middle East crisis.- Key figures around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 38,474.66 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 20,636.74Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 3,322.02Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0875 from $1.0878 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2957 from $1.2954Dollar/yen: UP at 152.33 yen from 152.17 yenEuro/pound: UP at 83.96 from 83.94 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $71.42 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $75.02 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 41,794.60 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,184.24 (close)