Zurich- Shares in UBS AG bounded ahead Friday after the Swiss banking giant said it hopes to post second-quarter earnings "at or just below breakeven," despite it battle to overcome the fallout from the US subprime mortgage market crisis.

Analysts had expected UBS to turn in a second-quarter loss. The Zurich-based bank which has written down about 37 billion dollars in the wake of the financial crisis sparked by the upheaval in the US mortgage sector.

However, a tax credit of about 3 billion Swiss francs (2.9 billion dollars) should help to shore up the company's second-quarter earnings, the bank said.

UBS, which is the middle of a major shakeout in its business operations including cutting its workforce by 5,500, also said it had "no need to raise new equity."

The bank reported a profit of 5.55 billion francs in the second quarter last year. The latest second-quarter result is due to be announced on August 12.

After surging following the UBS announcement, the bank's shares were trading up 2.6 per cent in late morning trading. (dpa)