Sydney, Sept 14, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -
Australian shares rose point-nine percent with Macquarie Bank leading financial firms higher after it flagged a record first-half profit, while mining firms gained on firmer base metal prices.
At Midday the S&P/ASX200 index is up 55 points to 6,285 and on the futures market the SPI 200's up 52.
In company news this hour, Australian finance house Mariner Financial has announced plans for a takeover of the independent television production group, Beyond International. The $1.15 per share deal is value Beyond at $68.7 million. Mariner, which already owns 11 percent of Beyond, says it plans to roll the company into a private equity fund that it expects to set up. Shares in Mariner are up 1.67% to $0.61.
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http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/7DWCB03SQantasLink says its entire Bombardier Q-400 fleet is back in business after required safety inspections. Qantas Group General Manager Regional Airlines Narendra Kumar says any issues were rectified, with normal services resuming early this morning. Mr Kumar says despite unavoidable delays, the vast majority of passengers on affected flights were accommodated on other services. QantasLink's Q-400 aircraft operate select regional services in Queensland and between Sydney and Canberra. Shares in Qantas are up 0.18% to $5.68.
Turning to warrants with Macquarie Bank now. Traders prompted by the strength in mining giant BHP Billiton's share price early in the session, took the opportunity to close out profits through BHPWMF September $36.50 Call.
Insurance Australia Group shares have edged lower after yesterday's rumour subsided that QBE had the recently beleaguered stock in its sight. Warrant traders believing further upside exists opened long positions in the stock through IAGIMG November $4.50 Instalment.
Turning now to market indices. All indexes were up this morning. Posting the biggest gain by percentage points is the Materials index, up 173 points to 13,874. Shares in Sims Group are up 4.22% to $33.35. Shares and Aquarius Platinum and Fortescue Metals are also higher.
The index making the least amount of gain is the Consumer Discretionary and its up seven points to 2,712. Flight Centre shares are down 0.94% to $23.27. Fairfax Media and the Ten Network are also lower.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei is up 130 points and in New Zealand the NZ-SX-50 is up 14.
Gold is currently trading at $706.80 an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 84.05 U.S cents.
Source: Finance News Network © 2007
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