Commonwealth Bank H2 profit up 2.3%, above fcasts

SYDNEY Aug 12 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd (CBA) (CBA.AX), the country's third-biggest bank, reported a 2.3 percent rise in second-half cash profit on Wednesday, beating market expectations and boosted by a recent acquisition.

CBA, also Australia's biggest mortgage lender, reported a cash profit of A$2.402 billion ($1.99 billion) for the six months ended June 30, up from A$2.348 billion a year earlier.

The result was helped by this year's acquisition of mid-tier Australian lender BankWest from Lloyds (LLOY.L).

Ten analysts on average had forecast cash profit of A$2.289 billion. Cash profit is effectively the core profit and strips out one-off and non-cash accounting items and forms the basis for dividends.

Australian banks have largely escaped the rout suffered by their global peers but rising unemployment and a slowdown in growth after 17 years of expansion have forced lenders to raise provisions for bad debts. ($1=1.205 Australian Dollar) (Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Mark Bendeich) ((denny.thomas@reuters.com; +61 2 9373 1812; Reuters Messaging: denny.thomas.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))