Feb 14 (Reuters) - Canada's Manulife Financial Corp on Wednesday posted a rise in quarterly profit, helped by strong insurance sales in Asia and a higher return on investments.

The country's largest insurer posted core earnings of C$1.77 billion ($1.31 billion), or 92 Canadian cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with C$1.54 billion, or 77 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

($1 = 1.3543 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)