Halliburton profit surges 31 percent as drilling booms outside North America

(Reuters) - Halliburton Co (HAL) reported a 31 percent rise in quarterly profit as the world's second-largest oilfield services company's push into global markets more than made up for weakness in North America.

Income from continuing operations rose to $770 million, or 90 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended December 31, from $589 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $7.64 billion.

(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)