Major Japanese companies are releasing midterm earnings for fiscal 2024 and the combined figure looks on course to be lower than last year.

SMBC Nikko Securities analyzed reports from leading firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It covered companies that had announced earnings by Thursday for the April through September first half.

The brokerage says the combined net profit so far totaled 15.9 trillion yen, or about 104 billion dollars. That's down 7.6 percent from the same period last year.

Of the 706 firms in the analysis, 298 reported profit declines, while 55 racked up net losses.

Manufacturers in the transport sector, including automakers, reported lower profit. This was blamed on production suspensions that followed an investigation into faked test data on vehicles. The economic slowdown in China and the yen's gain after July also cut into earnings.

A total of 350 companies showed net profit growth. A rise in container shipping rates boosted earnings in marine transportation.

Machinery and precision equipment firms saw profit gains due to growing chip demand for generative AI.

Profits have been growing year-on-year at Japanese companies, helped by the weaker yen. If the combined first-half net profit falls for all major companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, it will be the first drop in four years.