Nokia shares rise on better-than-expected Lumia sales

Nokia shares have risen sharply after the Finnish group said mobile phone sales in the fourth quarter exceeded its own expectations.

Nokia said it sold 86.3 million devices in the last quarter, with revenues totalling 3.9bn euros ($5.2bn; £3.2bn).

It said its mobile phone business had achieved underlying profitability, thanks to better-than-expected sales of its Lumia smartphone.

Nokia shares closed up 11% in Helsinki and 18.7% higher in New York.

The firm sold 4.4 million Lumia smartphones in the fourth quarter, up from 2.9 million in the third quarter.

It also sold 2.2 million Symbian smartphones and 9.3 million of its lower-priced Asha full-touch smartphones.

Nokia said it was also helped by lower-than-forecast operating expenses.

But it expects seasonality and a competitive environment to have a negative impact on the handset division's profitability in the first quarter of 2013.

Nokia has been losing ground to rivals Apple and Samsung in recent years.

Redeye analyst Greger Johansson said it was still too early to call it a turnaround.

"They will have to prove a lot more until you can say that," he said.

"I'm not still convinced that they are going to manage to succeed with those new smartphones. They have to sell a lot more in volumes until you can say that."