HONG KONG, Aug 1: Global banking giant HSBC on Monday posted better-than-expected results for the six months to June, fired by expansion in new markets but checked also by sluggish growth in more traditional business areas and higher costs. Pretax profit was up 5.0pc to US$10.64 billion while net profit rose 9.0 per cent from a year earlier to 7.6 billion dollars.—AFP
