AUTOS

Domestic Auto Sales Rise in Japan: April brought a modest increase and sales are expected to maintain their upward momentum in the coming months, car industry sources said. Vehicle sales in Japan, excluding mini-vehicles, rose 0.5% in April from a year earlier, to 374,721, the Japan Automobile Dealers Assn. said. It was the 11th month in a row in which domestic vehicle sales rose on a year-to-year basis. Sales of new vehicles have been gradually picking up in line with Japan’s tentative economic recovery from the country’s worst recession since World War II. The slight gain in April was helped by the launch of cheaper versions of existing models, low-priced new models and strong demand for heavy trucks.