TOKYO (Reuters) - Nomura Holdings (>> Nomura Holdings Inc.) booked a fall in quarterly profit on Thursday due to slumping mutual fund sales and stock trading commissions, while a protracted insider trading probe is clouding the outlook for Japan's largest investment bank.

Nomura, whose chief rival in Japan is Daiwa Securities Group (>> Nomura Holdings Inc.), reported a net profit of 1.89 billion yen ($24.2 million) for the April-June first quarter, against a profit of 17.7 billion yen in the same period last year. The consensus of eight analysts was for a profit of 500 million yen.

Like other Japanese brokerages, Nomura suffered from the 19 percent year-on-year industry-wide drop in mutual fund sales and slumping commissions in the latest quarter, when daily turnover on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell about 10 percent from the same period last year.

Nomura has also been grappling with losses in Europe and is awaiting possible sanctions from Japanese financial regulators for leaking inside information on three public share offerings it underwrote in 2010. ($1 = 78.2200 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Michael Watson)

Stocks treated in this article : Daiwa Securities, Nomura Holdings Inc.