Nomura logs quarterly profit on retail demand

TOKYO Oct 28 (Reuters) - Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T), Japan's largest brokerage, reported a second straight quarterly profit on Wednesday, thanks to robust sales of investment trusts and gains from trading commission.

Nomura earned a 28.3 billion yen ($310 million) net profit for July-September, compared with a 72.9 billion yen loss a year earlier.

Three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had given an average profit estimate of a 6.2 billion yen profit.

Nomura, which bought Lehman Brothers' Asian, European and Middle East operations last year, benefited from demand for investment trusts from retail investors who sought higher returns from foreign shares.

Nomura's global peers, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), have also benefited from strong trading revenue.

Nomura shares are down 12 percent so far this year, underperforming Tokyo's brokerage sector subindex .ISECU.T, which lost 3.6 percent. ($1=92.09 Yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)