Japan's Honda reports a nearly 9% rise in profit on healthy demand for its motorcycles and cars

Honda has reported an 8.7% increase in its fiscal first quarter profit as strong sales of hybrid vehicles in Japan and the U.S., and motorcycles in India and Brazil, boosted the Japanese automaker’s earnings. Honda’s April-June profit totaled 394.7 billion yen, or $2.7 billion. Honda reported Wednesday that its quarterly sales rose nearly 17%. A favorable currency exchange rate helped Honda, while tough price competition in China hurt, according to the maker of the Accord sedan, Fit subcompact, Super Cub motorcycle and Asimo robot. A weak yen works as a plus for Japanese exporters like Honda.