Koyo Seiko Co. Ltd. (Japan) stock rose 8.3% to ¥ 509 last week, after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the company will post better-than-expected group operating profit of ¥ 9.8 billion (USD $78.6 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2003.

Koyo had been projecting ¥ 7.5 billion in operating profit; the 23% increase is reportedly due to improved bearing sales to automotive OEM customers and lower overhead from plant consolidations.