Nippon Steel Q1 profit up 21 pct, keeps outlook

TOKYO, July 30 (Reuters) - Nippon Steel Corp. posted a 21 percent gain in quarterly profit on higher prices, outweighing sharply higher depreciation and raw materials costs, and stood by its annual profit outlook of flat growth.

The world's second-biggest steel maker, the biggest beneficiary of strong worldwide sales of Japanese cars, earned 148.7 billion yen ($1.26 billion) in pretax recurring profit before extraordinary items for April-June, compared with 123.08 billion a year ...