Responding to press speculation over the weekend, Toshiba and denied that any decision has been made on the future of HD DVD. Toshiba said Monday it has not reached a final conclusion on the future of HD DVD.

"We are cautiously assessing market movements as it is true that Warner Brother's decision to sell titles exclusively on Blu-ray affected our sales in January," a Toshiba spokeswoman said.

Toshiba also released a statement that the company had not made any announcement concerning a possible withdrawal of the HD DVD business. However, the company added that it was assessing its business strategies.

The death of HD DVD has been heralded since January, when Warner Brothers studio -- Hollywood's largest distributor of DVDs -- pulled out of an alliance with Toshiba and switched to Blu-ray.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, apparently drove a final nail into the coffin of HD DVD on Friday by announcing it would shift exclusively to selling movies on Blu-ray, following the lead of major US electronics seller Best Buy and the Blockbuster and Netflix movie rental groups.

Toshiba has already halted production of HD DVD players and recorders, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Saturday evening. According to NHK, the decision will likely cost the company several tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of US dollars).

Investors on Monday welcomed Toshiba's signals that it may abandon the HD DVD format. Shares in Toshiba jumped nearly 6 percent.