NYMEX Holdings Inc, parent of the New York Mercantile Exchange, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday helped by stronger electronic trading volume and cost cuts.

Net income for the third quarter rose 54 percent to $62.6 million, or 66 cents per share, from $40.7 million, or 47 cents per share.

Revenue rose 25 percent to $173.2 million.

Analysts were expecting the world's largest energy futures market to earn 64 cents per share on revenue of $172.35 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company approved a special dividend of $100 million.

Average daily volume of contracts traded during the quarter rose 13 percent to 1.5 million.

Floor trading of various options and futures contracts continued to decline during the quarter, even as electronic trading drove average daily volume growth.

Clearing and transaction fees rose 22 percent to $145.3 milion.

(Reporting by Anupreeta Das, editing by Steve Orlofsky)