May 1 (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX on Wednesday said first-half cash profit rose 2 percent, helped by lower operating expenses and credit impairment charges.
Australia's third-largest lender said cash profit from continuing operations, which omits various one-off items and is the most closely-watched metric, was A$3.56 billion ($2.51 billion) for the six months ended March 31, compared with A$3.49 billion a year earlier.
The figure was above an estimate of A$3.39 billion by five analysts polled by Reuters.
($1 = 1.4184 Australian dollars)