China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) reported a better-than-expected 61 percent rise in fourth-quarter revenue on Friday, driven by steady sales in its core ecommerce and cloud computing businesses. Revenue was 61.9 billion yuan ($9.73 billion) in the reported quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of 58.9 billion yuan, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Net income attributable to shareholders, however, fell 29 percent to 7.56 billion yuan.

A sign of Alibaba Group is seen during the fourth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, December 3, 2017. (File Photo: Reuters)

The March quarter is seasonally slow for Alibaba following its bumper sale event, Singles’ Day, in November.