(Reuters) - MasterCard Inc (>> Mastercard Inc) reported a better-than-expected 15.5 percent jump in quarterly profit as a rise in global consumer confidence encouraged its customers to use cards to make purchases, sending its shares up 7 percent.

MasterCard followed large rival Visa Inc (>> Visa Inc) in reporting an increase in cross-border transactions, which had taken a hit in the preceding quarter following Russian sanctions and a strengthening U.S. dollar.

Visa's shares were up as much 9.4 percent, single-handedly powering the Dow Jones Industrial Average to positive territory. The company reported a better-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit on Wednesday and also announced a $5 billion share buyback program.

Consumer confidence in the third quarter improved globally as concerns about the economy and job prospects eased, according to a survey by global information company Nielsen. U.S. consumer confidence also rose in August to its highest level since October 2007.

"Cross-border volume and revenue were the most important, that's where investors were concerned," Gil Luria, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, said.

MasterCard's cross-border volume fees rose 14 percent to $835 million in the quarter.

Worldwide purchase volume, or the total amount of purchases made with MasterCard-branded cards, increased 11 percent to $843 billion in local currency terms.

The company said U.S. purchase volume rose 8.2 percent to $288 billion.

MasterCard and Visa are also turning their attention to mobile payments and have partnered with Apple Inc (>> Apple Inc.) in the launch of Apple Pay, which allows iPhone users to pay using their phones.

Chief Executive Ajay Banga said on a conference call that the company plans to use mobile-based payments as a key tool of its cash displacement efforts.

MasterCard's net income rose to $1.02 billion, or 87 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $879 million, or 73 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net revenue rose 12.8 percent to $2.5 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 78 cents per share on revenue of $2.45 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MasterCard's shares were up 6.3 percent at $80.81 in morning trade.

(Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

By Amrutha Gayathri

Stocks treated in this article : Apple Inc., Mastercard Inc, Visa Inc