Shares of Google Inc. rose nearly 12 per cent after the web search leader’s profit beat forecasts for the first time in the last six quarters, boosted by strong advertising revenue.

Google rallied to $673.50 in extended trading, an all-time high for the stock in regular trading if it closed at that level yesterday, adding roughly $40 billion to its market value.

Google remains the most valuable publicly traded US company after Apple Inc.

Advertising revenue grew 11 per cent to $16.02 billion from .the year-ago quarter, while the number of ads, or paid clicks, rose 18 per cent, the company said.

Advertisers pay Google only if a user clicks on one of its ads. “Cost per click,” or the average price of online ads, fell 11 per cent, but was more than offset by the increase in ad volumes.

Google’s ad revenue has been under pressure as consumers access its services on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, whose ad rates are typically lower.

The company’s consolidated revenue rose 11 per cent to $17.73 billion in the quarter.

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