Nikkei up 0.2 pct,realignment talk lifts retailers

Toyota Canada expects higher vehicle sales in '07

Mr. Fujio Cho has been serving as Chairman of the Board and Representative Director of Toyota Motor Corporation since June 2006. He joined the Company... Full Bio

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TOKYO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The head of a Japanese automakers' lobby said on Thursday that he expected the yen's current weakness against other major currencies to continue for some time. "The European economy is healthy, and despite all the worries expressed about housing starts in the United States, the economy there is also solid," Fujio Cho, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, told a news conference.

But Cho, also chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T: Quote , NEWS , Research ), added that personal consumption in Japan was still not strong enough, so exchange rate levels may not change much soon.

The yen's current levels "basically reflect economic conditions and are not unnatural," he said.

Source: [url=http://today.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2007-02-19T014419Z_01_T135921_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-JAPAN-STOCKS-UPDATE-2.XML&rpc=66]Reuters[/url]