![UPDATE 3-Alibaba Singles' Day sales jump 25% in first 9 hours to $23 bln]( "UPDATE 3-Alibaba Singles' Day sales jump 25% in first 9 hours to $23 bln")
* Alibaba event is akin to Black Friday, Cyber Monday in U.S. HANGZHOU, China, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Chinese retailer Alibaba on Monday said sales for its annual Singles’ Day shopping blitz jumped 25% in the first nine hours to $23 billion, nearly two thirds of U.S. rival Amazon.com Inc’s online store sales in the latest quarter. Sales growth for the full 24-hour event, however, is likely to fall short of the year earlier, analysts said, at a time when China’s economic expansion heads toward a historic low.
