Leading mobile phone maker Nokia warned on Tuesday of lower sales in the current quarter, but its shares rebounded as investors warmed to its confirmation it was on course to hit its profit target.Nokia showed its resilience in running a profitable ship in an industry struggling with saturated markets, consumers' reluctance to buy new phones and poor demand for network equipment from cash-strapped telecoms operators.Nokia shares initially fell as much as nine percent after the Finnish company warned on sales, saying they would fall two to six percent to about 6.9-7.2 billion euros year-on-year against a previous target of up to seven percent growth.Nokia, which makes more than one in three phones sold globally, had in April lowered its target for the second quarter from an earlier forecast of sales growth of at least 10 percent. Nokia issues full second-quarter earnings on July 18.The bright spot was that Nokia said it was on course to hit its earnings per share target of 0.18-0.20 euros ($0.17-0.19) for the second-quarter, up from 0.17 euros a year-ago."The news wasn't so negative after all. It looks terrifying on sales but we knew networks were bad and mobile phones weren't so disappointing," said Jussi Uskola, analyst at investment bank Nordea Securities, which rates Nokia a "buy".The European and U.S. equity markets had been waiting anxiously for the Nokia mid-quarter update for guidance on the technology sector, already hammered by recent warnings from Intel and RF Micro.Shares in Nokia, which have already halved this year, closed 5.9 percent higher at 14.10 euros in Helsinki's official daytime trade as investors digested the numbers. In New York Nokia ADR's added 9.9 percent to $13.2 in early trade.Rival stocks in Europe also fell initially, with Ericsson, the world's largest mobile networks equipment maker, taking the brunt and trading nine percent lower before recovering a little to trade off 4.1 percent at 18.70 crowns."Relative to where most of Wall Street were at, Nokia's statement was a positive surprise," said Paul Sagawa, an analyst with institutional brokerage Sanford Bernstein in New York.HANDSET MARGINS MAINTAINEDNokia again downgraded its sales growth target for ...
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