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NEW YORK, March 2-- China e-commerce giant JD.com reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results on Monday, sending the stock up more than 12 percent. Net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2019 were 170.7 billion yuan (or 24.5 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 26.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2018, the company said. The reading beat Wall Street's estimate of 167 billion yuan. The company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 0.54 yuan for the fourth quarter, also topping analysts' expectations. "We achieved robust top-line growth for the fourth quarter as Chinese consumers increasingly associate the JD brand with trust and reliability," said Richard Liu, chairman and chief executive officer of the company. "We also saw strong customer growth, especially in China's lower-tier cities, driven by innovative marketing, superior product selection and better customer service," Liu added. The Chinese e-commerce giant also posted guidance for the first quarter of 2020, expecting the net revenues to grow at least 10 percent compared with the first quarter of 2019. Shares of JD.com soared 12.44 percent on Monday, leading the gainers in the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index. As of Friday, the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges by total market cap, stood at 3,154.86, marking a 2.17-percent increase for the month-to-date returns and a 0.39-percent decrease for the year-to-date returns. | 
