TOKYO, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Major Japanese securities firms have predicted that Japanese companies' gain will grow at a slower pace in 2019 on account of weaker demand both domestically and overseas, local media reported Thursday.

"I think it will be a year that marks the beginning of an end to the long-term uptrend in corporate earnings," Kyodo News quoted Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.

Concerns over the sluggish global economy have influenced Japanese exports and discouraged investment in some sectors like electric machinery, analysts said.

A consumption tax surge in October 2019 is also expected to dampen household spending in Japan.

Japan's three major securities companies have recently lowered their forecast for major Japanese firms' profits in fiscal 2019, which will begin in April.

Daiwa Securities Co. has lowered its expectation of pretax profits at large listed companies, excluding the financial sector, from 8.4-percent growth projected three months ago to 7.9 percent compared to the previous year.

Daiwa predicted a 9.8-percent increase, downgraded from 11.4 percent, in fiscal 2018.

Similarly, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. and Nomura Securities Co. have also lowered their forecast of large firms' pretax profits for both business years of 2018 and 2019.

Among the three brokerages, only Nomura forecast the profit growth pace will accelerate in fiscal 2019, with predictions of 9.7-percent growth for 2019 and 8.9 percent for 2018, but said the predictions may be further lowered if more companies cut their earnings projections.