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Honda posts 5.1 pct rise in Q1 operating profit, below expectations

TOKYO, July 31 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co was below expectations with a 5.1 percent rise in quarterly operating profit on Wednesday after strong sales in the United States and Asia offset a sales drop in Japan and as it sees a boost in profits from a weakening yen.

Japan's third-biggest automaker by sales volume posted an operating profit of 185.0 billion yen ($1.9 billion) for its April-June first quarter, compared with 176.01 billion yen a year earlier.

The result was below the average estimate of 209.3 billion yen in a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of four analysts.

For its fiscal year ending in March 2014, Honda stuck to its forecast for 780 billion yen, lower than 840.0 billion yen, the mean of estimates by 21 analysts. ($1 = 98.0550 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)