MTN has dismissed persistent market talk that attention from China Mobile could have stoked the company's shares.

Nozipho January-Bardill, MTN's spokesperson, said South Africa's second biggest cellphone company, was not in talks with the Chinese firm.

MTN's shares recorded their biggest gain since November 2005 on Friday, rising 7,5 percent to R128,94. on Monday, MTN lost 3,06 percent to close at R124,99.

The company has a market capitalisation of R235-billion and operates in 21 markets, mostly in Africa.

China Mobile - the world's biggest cellular operator by subscriber numbers - has reportedly shown an interest in MTN previously, having held talks with the company last year.

The speculation was heightened after Standard Bank announced last week that it was selling a 20 percent stake to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for R36,7-billion - in the biggest international investment by a Chinese firm.

Makwe Masilela, a trader at Nehawu Securities, said Chinese firms were looking for opportunities in Africa to further the country's investment objectives.

"Generally the Chinese are investing in Africa and are investing for their own growth. It seems their terms of investing are favourable to some African countries," said Masilela.

MTN recently issued a cautionary saying it was in talks with Telkom.

MTN's biggest market outside South Africa is Nigeria, where it controls half of the market. Its other operations are in Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Sudan and Iran.