Stock Alert: Apple Inc.

(RTTNews) - Tech giant Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) shares are currently trading at $287.67, up $14.42 or 5.28%, on Nasdaq. The iPhone maker, which boasts of a market cap of $1.26 trillion, has traded between $212.61 and $327.85 for the year-to-date period.

Shares of the Cupertino, California-based company gained 5% on Tuesday after reports suggested that iPhone shipments in China surged last month. China, the world's largest smartphone market, has started to slowly reopen after coronavirus pandemic.

China's government-backed Academy of Information and Communications Technology said Apple's March iPhone shipments rose to around 2.5 million, compared to only half a million iPhones sales in February, one of the worst months for Apple in China.

Apple is expected to ship around 197 million iPhones this year.

In February, Apple said it would not meet its previously issued revenue guidance of between $63 billion to $67 billion for the quarter ending in March, due to the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The tech giant cited the worldwide iPhone supply shortages due to the production disruption in China, as well as weakened demand among Chinese consumers due to the coronavirus.

Smartphone retailers in China resumed operations by early March, with brick-and-mortar stores re-opening and e-commerce logistics restarting their operations after curbing the spread of coronavirus in the country.

Smartphone manufacturers are expecting sales in China to help offset the sharp decline in sales expected worldwide in coming months due to the ongoing pandemic.