Nokia shares rise despite losses

Nokia will be releasing new versions of its smartphones next month

Nokia shares have risen sharply in Helsinki despite the release of another set of quarterly losses.

The mobile phone company reported a net loss of 969m euros ($1.27bn; £787m) for the three months to the end of September, compared with a 68m euro loss in the same quarter last year.

But the shares rose 9% as the results were still better than had been expected.

The Finnish company's sales were down 19% from the same period last year.

Nokia was the world's leading mobile phone maker for more than a decade, but has struggled in the face of competition from Apple and Samsung.

Its third-quarter results were boosted by record profits from its telecoms equipment company, Nokia Siemens Networks.

Nokia is releasing new Lumia 820 and 920 phones next month, which will use Microsoft's latest Windows 8 software.

"We expected that Nokia's third quarter was going to be tough for its smartphone business due to the announcement of Windows Phone 8," said Pete Cunningham at Canalys.

"The fourth quarter will be a tough one as it will take a couple of quarters to ramp up Windows Phone 8 volumes due to the competitive landscape."

The introduction of Windows smartphones has been the big change under chief executive Stephen Elop, who phased out the Symbian operating system shortly after he took control of the company in 2010.