TOKYO  Sony reported a 72 percent drop in profit in the most recent quarter on Wednesday, hurt by a stronger yen and the global slowdown.

The poor results were expected, after the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment conglomerate last week cut its annual profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2009 by 58 percent.

Sony made that revision after sales of its Bravia line of flat-panel televisions and digital cameras fell faster than expected in October, suggesting a deepening slump in the second half of the fiscal year.

Sony has joined a succession of Asian exporters reporting lower earnings, including Canon, Samsung and Honda, which all cut yearly forecasts. They have blamed drops in global and particularly American demand, contradicting an old notion that Asian economies were decoupling from the United States.