Two major Japanese banks sharply lowered their profit forecasts for the fiscal year through March 2009 on Friday, shaken by stock declines set off by the global financial crisis.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group revised its profit forecast for the fiscal year to 220 billion yen ($2.2 billion), about a third of what it had forecast earlier at 640 billion yen ($6.5 billion) profit.

Earlier in the day, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said it now expects a 250 billion yen ($2.6 billion) group net profit for the fiscal year, down by about half of what it had forecast earlier at 560 billion yen ($5.7 billion).

The reports from two of Japan's three megabanks show that they are not emerging unscathed from the global financial turmoil, although Japanese exposure to U.S. subprime mortgage woes is seen as relatively minimal compared to their U.S. and European counterparts.

Still, Japan's banks have been hammered amid a plunge in global stock markets as jittery investors worry about a global recession and generally want to shun risk.

Kyong Sun Kong, analyst with Celent in Tokyo, said the results underline markdowns in securities held by banks and bad times can continue in months ahead.

"Second-stage effects from the global credit crunch slowed the Japanese economy, cutting corporate demand for bank lending, the bread and butter of large Japanese banks," Kong said.

Tokyo-based Mizuho, which is set to announce its earnings results on Nov. 13, said sharp declines on the Japanese stock market has eroded Mizuho's equity investments. Mitsubishi UFJ reports earnings the week after that.

Although the benchmark for the Tokyo Stock Exchange recovered earlier in the week, the Nikkei 225 index dipped 5 percent Friday.