The company's third-quarter underlying loss before one-off items was 0.07 euros per share compared to a profit of 0.03 euros a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a loss of 0.11 euros in a Reuters poll.
Nokia's net cash position fell to 3.6 billion euros by the end of the quarter from 4.2 billion in June but still came in ahead of market forecasts of 3.4 billion euros.
Once the world's biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia has fallen behind rivals in smartphones, and its partnership with software giant Microsoft has yet to challenge the dominance of Apple's iPhones or Samsung's Galaxy models.
The Finnish group is now pinning its hopes on new, top-of-the-range Lumia 820 and 920 phones, which use Microsoft's latest Windows 8 software and are due to hit stores in November.
Some analysts were wary despite the stronger-than-expected numbers, saying much depended on sales of the new Lumias.
"Lofty market expectations for Q4 ignore the reality that new products will ship halfway through the quarter into an overwhelmingly competitive and congested market," said Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight.
© Thomson Reuters 2012
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