Denso cuts H1 profit forecast on U.S. bond losses

TOKYO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Denso Corp (6902.T), the world's largest listed auto parts supplier, on Friday cut its first half net profit forecast by a fifth due to losses on the sale of bonds issued by U.S. financial institutions.

Denso, a core supplier of the Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) group, kept its operating profit and sales forecasts unchanged.

The company, a top maker of electronics and other auto parts rivalling Germany's unlisted Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL], said it would book a special loss of 20.6 billion yen ($194 million) in the first half to Sept. 30 on the bonds.

"We considered that it would be difficult for these investment securities to recover for a short-term period under the current market environment," Koji Kobayashi, senior managing director at Denso, said in a statement.

Denso now expects to post a first-half net profit of 61 billion yen instead of its prior forecast of 76 billion yen. It kept its sales and operating profit estimates unchanged at 1.92 trillion yen and 113 billion yen.

The company said it was still calculating how the loss might affect its full-year estimates.

Denso spokeswoman Miwa Kurokawa said the company has now disposed of all bonds at risk of not being recoverable. (Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)