*Q2 net profit 430.8 million lira
*Income from trading more than quadruples to 271 million lira
*Net interest income jumps 39 percent (Adds more details, comments by analyst and bank)
By Ayla Jean Yackley
ISTANBUL, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Yapi Kredi Bank, the Turkish lender part-owned by Italy's UniCredit SpA, said on Tuesday its profit nearly doubled in the second quarter, beating expectations, as income from trading and interest jumped.
Unconsolidated net profit rose 95 percent to 430.8 million lira ($293 million) in the April-June period, compared with an average forecast of 408 million lira given in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Profit in the first half of the year was 924 million lira.
Trading income in the second-quarter rose 373 percent to 271 million lira from 57.3 million a year ago, bringing first-half income from trading to 386.6 million lira.
"The main reason for the increase in the bottom line are the marvellous trading gains," said Mete Yuksel, analyst at EFG Istanbul Securities.
Net interest income rose 39 percent to 817.4 million lira in the second quarter on a year ago.
Turkish lenders have boosted earnings this year by keeping loan rates high while lowering what they pay on deposits following the central bank's record interest rate cuts.
The central bank has reduced its benchmark rate by 850 basis points since November to a record low of 8.25 percent as it seeks to kickstart an economy deep in recession.
Yapi Kredi, which is controlled by Turkey's Koc Holding, credited cost management for the rise in profit, saying in an e-mailed statement it had reduced its ratio of expenditure to revenue to 38 percent in the first half of this year, from 51 percent in the same period of 2008.
"It's a good result and we expect the share price to be positively affected," said Muge Dagistanli, an analyst at Garanti Securities.
But Yapi Kredi's provisions for bad loans soared to 763.8 million from 246 million in the first half of 2008.
The rate of non-performing loans rose to 6 percent in a loanbook of 37 billion lira by the end of June, compared with 4.5 percent at end-2008, when loans totalled 38 billion lira.
"The large expenditure on provisions is because we are seeing a big increase in aging non-performing loans," said Yuksel. "This will continue to be a factor going forward." (Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Rupert Winchester)