Japan's top bank reports loss in Jan.- Dec. period

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis　

TOKYO, Feb. 6 (Chinese media) -- Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Inc. said Friday it fell into the red in the nine months from January to December with a group net loss of 42.07 billion yen (462 million dollars) due to the global financial turmoil and economic downturn.

The earnings by Japan's biggest banking group in the period stood in stark contrast with the 314.66 billion yen net profit logged in the same period a year before.

The company attributed the loss to stock investments as well as bad-loan disposal.

For the whole year of fiscal 2008, which ends March 31, MUFG projects a group net profit of 50 billion yen, down 92.1 percent from the previous year.

Japanese banks were largely immune to the global financial turmoil but are dragged down by the plunging stock market amid the recession which swept almost every industries. (1 U.S. dollar is equivalent to 90 yen)