Sydney, Sept 4, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Australian shares closed higher on Tuesday, rising for a fourth straight session, with stronger than expected economic growth in the past quarter lifting firms more reliant on domestic demand, such as Woolworths.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed up 26 points to 6293, but on the futures market the SPI 200 is down 32 points.

Turning to company news now, National Australia Bank said this afternoon it will cut a range of account transaction fees, but declined to give the impact on fee income. NAB Chief Executive Ahmed Fahour said the bank expected to win new customers over with a range of new products, which would offset the loss of revenues from lower fees. NAB said it will cut overdrawn fees for low income earners, offer some accounts with no monthly fees depending on the minimum balance held, and stop charging fees for using other banks' ATMs on some accounts. National Australia Bank shares are up 0.7% at $40.20.

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

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/MS47FA2J


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/L3MNO412


The founders and key shareholders of Australian travel firm Flight Centre said this afternoon they plan to retain control of the company, despite having reduced their stake in the past week. The five founders, including Managing Director Graham Turner, said in a statement they have reduced their combined holding to 56 per cent following an off-market sale of 1.75 million shares late last week. The statement also said the founders we do not anticipate any significant change in ownership or control of Flight Centre. The travel firm rejected a second joint venture offer with private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners in July after the founders opposed the plan. Flight Centre shares are up 3.96% at $21.

In other news today, the Zinifex and Umicore joint venture Nyrstar has been formally launched. Zinifex today confirmed that it had completed the transfer of zinc and lead smelting and alloy assets into the new entity, making up about 60 per cent of Nyrstar's assets.

Shares in Westfield Group rose today with investors betting that the sub prime crisis would have limited impact on the U.S. economy.

Avexa Limited announced today positive results from clinical trial of the drug ATC. The data demonstrate that, in over 80% of patients treated with ATC, the level of HIV in the blood was reduced to below detectable levels after 24 weeks.

The valuation range set by corporate advisory firm Grant Samuel in a document due out later today or tomorrow may be the key factor to push Wesfarmer's take over of Coles over the line. The results of the report is expected to allow the Coles board to recommend the deal to shareholders.

Now to today's best and worst performers, the best performing index was the Property Trust index gaining 34points to 2460, while the worst performing index was the Utlities Index shedding 63 points to 7235.

Perilya was the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 climbing 4.92% to $4.05; MFS and Mount Gibson Iron also climbed higher.

CSR was the worst performing stock today sliding 6.61% to $3.11; Paladin Resources and AWB also lost ground.

To commodities now, gold is currently trading at $674 US an ounce and light crude is 20 cents firmer at $74.24 US a barrel.


Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au
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>>> AVEXA LIMITED
>>> FLIGHT CENTRE LIMITED
>>> NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED
>>> WESTFIELD GROUP
>>> ZINIFEX LIMITED
>>> COLES GROUP LIMITED