May 8 (Reuters) - Canada's Manulife Financial Corp reported a jump in first-quarter profit on Wednesday, driven by robust performance in its Asia unit.

The country's largest insurer posted core earnings of C$1.75 billion ($1.28 billion), or 94 Canadian cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with C$1.53 billion, or 79 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. ($1 = 1.3719 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)