The chief financial officer of Nokia, the world's biggest cellphone maker, on Wednesday backed a previous forecast that the second-quarter mobile market would be flat to slightly up from the first quarter and said the economy appeared unchanged since April.

Richard Simonson also said during a Webcast of a presentation he made at an investor conference that Nokia would continue its cost-cutting plans even if the economy shows signs of improvement.

Nokia, which made its first-ever quarterly pretax loss in the first quarter of this year, is cutting annual costs at its key handset unit alone by more than 700 million euros ($974.25 million) as it faces declining cellphone demand.

It's really too early to conclude that customer demand has reached the bottom or how it will come back or when it will come back, the executive said.

Citing his previous expectation for the current quarter to be unchanged or slightly up from the first quarter, Simonson said, There's no reason to change that.

The mobile phone market is expected to shrink 10 percent this year as consumers rein in spending and phone suppliers try to clear out unsold phones.

Nokia shares were up 7 cents at $14.95 on New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Brian Moss)