Sydney, Aug 31, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The Australian share market closed at its highest point in 5 weeks today. Mining giant BHP led the market higher on firmer metal prices, while Harvey Norman also gave investors a reason to smile following an upbeat earnings result.

Today the S&P/ASX 200 Index closed up 112 points to 6247, and is up 159 points on the week. On the futures market the SPI 200 surged 112 points.

Looking to US indices now, the Dow Jones industrial Index fell 140 points over the four day trading week. The S&P 500 shed 22 points, the NASDAQ lost 11, and the 100 index lifted 2 points.

The full report is available at the following video and audio links.

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In economic news, retail sales rose in July. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, retail trade rose 0.9 per cent to $19.4 billion. Economists were forecasting an increase of 0.6 per cent. The result may influence the Reserve Bank to raise rates next week but many argue the emergence of problems in global credit markets will force the Reserve not to tighten its policy.

Turning to company news now, the Bank of Queensland is now set to merge with Home Building Society. The deal has been valued at $592 million and was unanimously recommended by the Perth-based building society's board. Under the offer, shareholders will get 0.844 new Bank of Queensland shares plus $2.80 cash for each Home share. If the deal is approved by investors, Home shareholders will own around 20 per cent of the merged group. The merger is expected to take place in January next year. Shares in Bank of Queensland ended the session 1.7% higher at $18.56, gaining 5.75% on the week.

And Tap Oil says it's disappointed with its first half loss. The oil and gas explorer reported a loss of $280,000 for the six months to June 30 this year. It compares to a profit of $10.9 million last year. Managing director Paul Underwood cited considerable volatility in the oil price, but couldn't see this subsiding materially. The news comes exactly one week after a war of words has broken out between Tap Oil and a group of shareholders. The group of shareholders said while they are being patient, it seemed reasonable to expect some return at some time or to demand change. Mr Underwood has challenged the group at the time to either launch a bid or let the board do its job. Shares in Tap Oil ended the session steady at $1.86, but gained 6.9% on the week.

Taking a look at some of the week's main stories now, Rio Tinto raised $48.87 billion to buy Canadian Aluminium producer Alcan. The miner said in a statement it had successfully completed the sub-underwriting phase of the syndication of its loan and revolving credit facilities. It's the largest loan facility ever raised by a UK corporate and the fourth largest worldwide. The facilities were underwritten by The Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale. Shares in Rio Tinto ended the session 2.66% higher at $93.52, and are up 4.94% on the week.

And the ANZ Bank has decided to show compassion for those customers affected by the equine influenza outbreak. The bank says it will provide assistance on a case-by-case basis to customers whose jobs or businesses are affected by the horse-flue epidemic. The measures include suspending payments on loans for three months, and temporary adjustments to lending limits on credit cards. Gaming companies were especially hurt by news of the outbreak. Shares in Tabcorp slumped to a 10-month low yesterday, after the company said it would lose $150 million in turnover this week due to the bans on thoroughbred and harness race meetings. And Tattersall's shares lost almost 3 per cent after the company said it could stand to lose $2 million per week in earnings if the bans continued. Shares in Tabcorp ended the session 3.52% higher to close at $15.29, but are down 3.41% on the week. Meanwhile shares in Tattersall's ended the session 4.77% lower to close at $4.19, and are down 15.35% on the week.

And now to today's best and worst performers, all the major indices were up today. The best performing index was the Energy index gaining 432 points to 14,271, while the index which made the smallest gain was the Utilities index up 33 points to 7241.

Consolidated Minerals was the standout performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 today adding 9.7% to $4.07; Straights Resources and Beach Petroleum also managed to gain ground. At the other end of the index; Tattersall's was the worst performing stock losing 4.77% to $4.19; Murchison Metals and Commander Communications also finished lower.

The Aussie dollar is currently fetching 82.19 U.S cents and is down half a cent on the week.

Gold is trading at $668.10 U.S an ounce and gained 20 cents on the week's trading.

And finally, oil moved 13 cents higher to $73.49 U.S a barrel and is up $2.36 on the week.


Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au
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