Nissan Motor Co. suffered a 35 percent plunge in October-December profit to $579 million as global sales languished, especially in China, where anti-Japanese sentiment flared over a territorial dispute.

Quarterly sales dipped 5.3 percent from a year earlier to $23.5 billion, Yokohama-based Nissan said Friday. Nissan’s earnings fell short of the $652 million profit forecast by a FactSet survey of analysts.