Japanese auto-parts makers registered improved earnings in the first half of fiscal 2000 as their sales grew both at home and abroad, the Japan Auto-Parts Industries Association said in a report released Thursday.

According to the report, the association's 77 listed member companies posted combined sales of 3.692 trillion yen in the six months to Sept. 30 on an unconsolidated basis, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier.

Their unconsolidated pretax profit jumped 45.9 percent to 150.8 billion yen in the half-year period.