TOKYO, July 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Komatsu Ltd, the world's No. 2 construction machinery maker, said its April-June profit plunged to one-tenth the level of a year ago as the global downturn hit construction and mining demand.
Komatsu reported an operating profit of 8.27 billion yen for the first quarter of the year to March 2010, down 90 percent from the same period last year.
The company, the world's second-largest earth-moving equipment maker after Caterpillar Inc, kept its operating profit forecast for the full year to March 2010 at 72 billion yen.
That exceeded a consensus forecast of 57.5 billion yen in a poll of 23 analysts by Thomson Reuters.
Komatsu and its local rival Hitachi Construction tumbled into the red in the January-March quarter amid a sudden collapse in demand. Both warned in April that their profits would roughly halve this financial year.
In the last three months, Komatsu shares have gained 27 percent, while the benchmark Nikkei has edged up 15 percent.
(Reporting by Yumiko Nishitani)