Sydney, Sept 19, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The share market rallied today after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a per cent. The moved eased concerns about the outlook for the world's biggest economy ? sending mining and financial stocks higher. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed up 164 points to 6356, and on the futures market the SPI 200 surged 186 points.

Turning to company news now, SP Telemedia has posted a bumper profit result. The telco that trades under the name SOUL recorded full year earnings of $44.9 million. That's an increase of around 450 per cent on the previous year helped in part by the sale of the company's NBN media assets. Chairman Robert Milner says with a strong balance sheet and cash flow, the company is well placed to take advantage of growth opportunities. Shares in SP Telemedia closed 13.33% lower at 45 and-a-half cents.

And Queensland Gas company's earnings remain in the red but it says it's still well positioned for future growth. The coal seem gas company posted a full year loss of $12.22 million that's down from last year's $6.25 million loss. Managing director Richard Cottee says the loss came after the company spent $14.5 million responding to a failed takeover bid by Santos. Santos made a bid for the company earlier in the year but later dropped it after it was opposed by the competition watchdog. The company says it now has a number of water projects under development in an attempt to further diversify its revenue streams. Shares in Queensland Gas Company closed up 4.35% to $2.40.

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

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In other news today, firms that derive much of their earnings from the U.S. rose today ? on an improved outlook for the U.S. economy ? Westfield Group was one beneficiary.

Shares in Caltex surged after the price of oil hit a record high.

Despite the broader market rising debutant Marginbet fell on the open. Shares in the sports and horse racing betting firm opened 3 and-a-half cents below its issue price of 20 cents before slipping further to 12 cents. The stock closed the session at 17 cents.

Toll Holdings says it will now move to acquire ALL the remaining shares of Singapore-based logistics company Kimtrans now that the takeover has been completed.

And the ANZ Bank has made a commitment to become Australia's 'most convenient bank'. To be completed by 2010, the plan involves injecting more ATMs, offering full service banking seven days a week, and adding 50 new Local Link agencies in rural towns.

Now to today's best and worst performers, all the major indices were up today. The best performing index was the Materials index pushing 607 points higher to 14,368, while the index which made the least amount of gain was the Consumer Staples index shedding 84 points to 8276.

Sino Gold Mining was again the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 climbing 9.12% to $6.82; Kagara Zinc and Mt Gibson Iron also climbed higher.

Centennial Coal was the worst performing stock today shedding 1.32% to $3.75; ABC Learning Centres and AWB also retreated.

To commodities now, gold is currently trading at $725.80 US an ounce and light crude is 63 cents firmer at $82.14 US a barrel.



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

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