HONG KONG HSBC Holdings reported a 235% increase in first-half profit on Tuesday, as it benefited from rising interest rates around the world and the positive effects of its planned French unit sale.Europe's largest bank with a market value of $162 billion posted a pretax profit of $21.7 billion for the first six months this year, versus $9.2 billion a year earlier. The results were better than the $20.9 billion mean average estimate of brokers compiled by HSBC.

The London-headquartered bank announced the second of a new cycle of buybacks, along with the results, of up to $2 billion, which starts immediately.

(Reporting by Selena Li and Lawrence White; Editing by Edmund Klamann)