LONDON (Reuters) -Barclays first half profit rose by a better than expected 23%, the British bank said on Tuesday, with its markets business reaping bumper returns from the frenzied trading activity unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.

Pretax profit for the January-June period totalled 5.2 billion pounds ($6.94 billion), above analysts' average forecast of 4.96 billion pounds.

The bank also announced a fresh share buyback of 1 billion pounds.

($1 = 0.7492 pounds)