Swiss National Bank reports first-half profit of 38.5 billion Swiss francs

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank <SNBN.S> reported a first half profit of 38.5 billion Swiss francs (£31.97 billion) helped by the expansive mood of other central banks which have boosted global equity markets and pushed up the price of gold.

The central bank made a 33.8 billion franc profit from valuation gains, dividends and interest payments from the shares and bonds bought to weaken the Swiss franc. The SNB's foreign currency holdings were worth around 778 billion francs at the end of June.

A valuation gain of 3.8 billion francs was made on its gold holdings, the SNB said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by John Revill)