* Q1 pretax profit of 618 million Swedish crowns
* Says markets still affected by economic downturn
* Still sees volumes down 10 percent in 2009
* Shares rise 1.7 percent (Adds CEO, analyst quotes)
By Oskar von Bahr and Mia Shanley
STOCKHOLM, May 6 (Reuters) - Swedish construction firm Skanska reported first-quarter pretax earnings just below market expectations on Wednesday and turned more upbeat about the infrastructure market in the United States.
The company, which warned on profits already in early April , said it was still suffering from the economic slowdown and stuck to its forecast for a 10 percent decline in volumes this year in local currencies.
Chief Executive Johan Karlstrom told Reuters that Skanska would also post lower sales in 2010 than in 2009 due to the global downturn, but said conditions had improved in the key U.S. market.
"The infrastructure market in the United States looks significantly brighter," Karlstrom said. "A lot of projects have been put out to the market which companies, including Skanska, are going to be going after."
Pretax profit was 618 million Swedish crowns ($78 million) versus a year-earlier 1.22 billion and below a mean forecast of 653 million in a Reuters poll of analysts.
"My impression is that they have become less negative in this quarter about the outlook," said an analyst who declined to be named.
"The U.S. business showed improving margins, and the UK, which has had a lot of problems, was better than we expected."
Skanska's share price was up 1.7 percent by 0826 GMT. The stock has risen about 14 percent since the start of the year.
GLOBAL DOWNTURN
The Nordic construction firm has been hit hard by the global slowdown, especially in the United States, its single largest market. It is in the process of cutting 3,400 jobs.
Skanska, which is also active in Europe and Latin America, saw a 30 percent drop in order bookings in the first quarter to 24.1 billion crowns. That topped an average forecast of 22.9 billion.
It said the decline in order bookings at its U.S. civil construction operations was due to delayed projects as customers waited for the federal stimulus package to kick in.
"We now foresee a clear increase in the flow of projects for these operations to bid on, and we thus expect a recovery in the order situation at these operations," Karlstrom said in a statement.
Skanska's revenue in the first quarter was down 2 percent year-on-year to 30.9 billion crowns, largely in line with analysts' average forecast of 30.3 billion crowns.
Last month, Finnish builder YIT posted a steep drop in first-quarter earnings but said it expected to post a pretax profit for 2009 in spite of a deep downturn in demand. ($1=7.921 Swedish Crown) (Editing by Karen Foster and Rupert Winchester)