Sony reports quarterly loss of $289 millions

A file photo fo people crowding at Sony Corp.'s PlayStation booth during a media preview of the annual Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, near Tokyo, onOctober 9, 2008. Video game rivals Sony and Microsoft, are going head-to-head in virtual worlds for their home consoles later this year. Both companies announced their services, which use graphic images that represent players called "avatars," on Thursday at the Tokyo Game Show. Photo: AP.

Sony is reporting a smaller-than-expected 26.3 billion yen loss ($289 million) for the July-September quarter as the Japanese electronics and entertainment maker slowly recovers from the global slump.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp. also trimmed on Friday its forecast of losses for the full fiscal year through March 2010 to a 95 billion yen ($1 billion) loss from the initially projected 120 billion yen ($1.3 billion) loss.

The previous fiscal year it lost 98.9 billion yen.

Sony said it managed to turn a quarterly profit in its core electronics and device business but acknowledged its liquid crystal display TVs and game machine computer chip businesses continued to be hurt by intensifying price competition.

Profitability in that business weakened compared to the same period a year earlier.