[alibaba singles day daniel zhang]Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters Alibaba on Thursday reported quarterly sales that trumped forecasts but profits that fell short of analysts' expectations. The Chinese e-commerce giant's online platforms sold goods worth more than 3 trillion yuan in March for the first time, amid a struggling Chinese economy. Alibaba's performance in its fiscal fourth quarter was also boosted by a 175% year-on-year growth in its cloud computing and internet infrastructure business. Alibaba's revenues rose 39% to 24.2 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), beating the forecast for 23.2 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 3.02 yuan, versus 3.52 yuan expected, according to Bloomberg. Alibaba shares rose by as much as 5% in premarket trading on Thursday. Taobao, the company's online shopping site similar to Amazon and eBay, grew as it pushed further into rural China. Quarterly mobile revenues jumped 149% year-over-year to $2.02 billion. [Screen Shot 2016 05 05 at 7.13.45 AM]Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters NOW WATCH: FORMER GREEK FINANCE MINISTER: The single largest threat to the global economy