16.11.201701:16:00UTC+00Tencent Shares Rally After Posting Solid Revenue Growth

Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. rallied after reporting the fastest revenue growth in seven years and trumping the most optimistic analyst projections.

Shares of the Chinese giant jumped by as much as 2.7 percent to HK$393.40 in early trading, poised to end the session on a record-high level. The owner of the popular WeChat social network posted a 61 percent in sales during the third quarter. The growth, which was fueled by advertising and its popular games, was the fastest since 2010.

Sales for the period stood at 65.2 billion yuan, topping estimates for 61 billion yuan. Net income jumped 69 percent to 18 billion yuan, also surpassing projections for 15.8 billion yuan.

WeChat recorded 980 million monthly active users, higher 16 percent from the prior year and now processes 38 billion messages every day.

For the longer term, the company is betting on artificial intelligence research. It is also said to be developing an autonomous driving system, among other areas it is pushing into. Analysts project that some of the firm's bold investments would begin to deliver results and add market value to the company.