** Shares of South Korean e-commerce co Naver rise as much as 6.38% to their highest in nearly four months, while those of rival Kakao jump 3.88% to a four-month peak
** Naver posts 3.37 bln won ($2.75 mln) in operating profit for September-December period, down 4.2% y/y; revenue up 17.8% at 2.27 trln won
** "Top-line growth beats forecasts, far exceeding that of global big tech firms at a time when performance expectations remain lower as big tech shares are diving" - Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities
** Tech giant Naver says content business revenue jumped 91.3% last year, with a 25% y/y increase in paid membership in Japan
** Co able to bring about higher growth than global peers thanks to South Korea's relatively higher GDP growth - co in earnings conference call
** Corporate-wide margin levels to depend on cutting losses seen in content and cloud businesses - co
** The wider KOSPI market up 0.92%, as of 0145 GMT ($1 = 1,226.4500 won) (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim)
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