TORONTO, May 3 (Reuters) - Manulife Financial Corp MFC.TO , Canada's biggest life insurer, on Wednesday reported a rise in first quarter earnings, marginally beating market forecasts with help from strong sales in Asia.
The company said core earnings, excluding one-off items and market movements, rose 22 percent to C$1.1 billion ($801 million), or 53 Canadian cents a share. Analysts on average had expected core earnings of 52 Canadian cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data. ($1 = 1.3729 Canadian dollars)