Toyota triples 3rd quarter profit

TOKYO (AP) - Toyota's quarterly profit tripled, driven by a recovery from natural disasters, and the company raised its full-year earnings forecast despite a sales slump in China.

Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday reported a July-September net profit of 257.9 billion yen ($3.2 billion) compared with an 80.4 billion profit a year earlier.

Japan's top automaker raised its profit forecast for the full fiscal year through March 2013 to 780 billion yen ($9.8 billion) from 760 billion yen ($9.5 billion).

It had a profit of 283.5 billion yen profit in the previous fiscal year, when Toyota production was hammered by the disasters in northeastern Japan and Thailand.

The company's optimism comes despite a sale plunge in China, where a territorial dispute has set off protests and a boycott of Japanese cars.