Johannesburg - Shares in South African e-commerce and media giant Naspers surged more than 9 percent in afternoon deals on Wednesday after its Chinese money maker shot past estimates with a record quarterly profit growth.
Naspers, which owns more than a third of Tencent Holdings, climbed 8.99 percent to 1,172.37 rand by 14:12 SA time, on course for its biggest daily percentage gain in five years.
“The main reason why investors are excited about Naspers has got to do with Tencent. Tencent shot the lights out with their results. It's all Tencent,” Brendan Sacks, a trader at Nedbank Private Wealth said.
Tencent, the home of China's biggest mobile messaging service, booked a 60 percent rise in first-quarter net income on Wednesday.
Naspers, which also operates pay-TV business across Africa and publishes several newspapers at home, bought into the Chinese firm in 2001.
Tencent's explosive growth since listing in 2004 has also fuelled a rally the stock of Naspers, three quarters of whose net asset value comes from its stake in the Chinese firm, according to Sacks. - Reuters