LONDON - Barclays reported a lower than expected 9% fall in first half pretax profit, as a strong performance from its investment bank compensated for declining income in its core UK businesses.

The bank's profit of 4.2 billion pounds for the six months ended June was above the 3.8 billion pounds average of analysts' forecasts, and down from 4.6 billion pounds in the same period a year ago.

The British bank also announced a 750 million pound ($963.08 million) buyback, in line with analysts' expectations, and a 2.9 pence per share dividend.

Barclays said it was upgrading several longer term return targets, including return on tangible equity (ROTE), targeting a greater than 12% RoTE by 2026.

The lender also outlined an income goal of 30 billion pounds by the same year.

Barclays reported income in its investment bank rose 10% for the first quarter, as it in common with Wall Street rivals benefited from a bumper second quarter for trading desks, in equities especially.

Barclays reported equities income for the second quarter rose 24%, compared with an 18% increase for Morgan Stanley , 7% for Goldman Sachs and 21% for JPMorgan.

(Reporting By Lawrence White, editing by Sinead Cruise)