Gazprom's second quarter profit soars on rising energy prices, sales

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian gas giant Gazprom reported a surge in second-quarter net profit, beating analysts' expectations, as it benefited from rising energy prices.It said second-quarter net profit jumped to 259 billion roubles (2.95 billion pounds), from 48 billion roubles in the year-earlier period and above a forecast of 228 billion roubles in a Reuters survey of analysts.Gazprom's shares were up 1.1 percent after the results, outperforming the broader Moscow stock market , which was 0.8..