Nov 9 (Reuters) - Becton Dickinson forecast current-year profit below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, citing weakness in China, sending the medical equipment maker's shares down about 9%.

BD manufactures and distributes medical and surgical products such as needles, syringes and sharps disposal units.

The company said the largest headwind it anticipates is from China, where market softness is expected to predominantly impact its drug delivery device business.

The New Jersey-based company now expects an adjusted profit of $12.70 to $13.00 per share for fiscal 2024, compared with analysts' average expectation of $13.50, according to LSEG data.

"While we've been saying FY24 numbers needed to move lower, we don't think investors were expecting a sub-$13.00 guide," J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus said.

The company said its profit forecast also includes impact from the divestiture of its surgical instrumentation platform that was sold to Steris in June.

BD also narrowly missed quarterly profit expectations. This is in contrast to that of peers Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific.

On an adjusted basis, BD reported a profit of $3.42 per share in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to analysts' estimate of $3.43 per share.

The company, however, reported a 6.8% rise in quarterly revenue to $5.09 billion, marginally ahead of analysts' average estimate of $5.02 billion.

BD's largest unit, which makes devices to administer drugs, reported a 7.5% rise in sales to $2.55 billion, largely in line with estimate. (Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)