Sydney, Oct 12, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The share market retreated today ending five straight sessions of positive gains.

Today the S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 23 points to 6749, but is up 144 points on the week. On the futures market the SPI 200 was down 28 points.

Looking to US indices now, the Dow Jones industrial Index lost 51 points over the four day trading week. The S &P 500 declined 3 points, the NASDAQ shed 8, and the 100 index slipped 9 points.

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

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/05DJ4Y34


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/GS67K2KD


Turning to company news now, Pallinghurst has lifted its offer for Consolidated Minerals by 10 per cent to $1.03 billion. Pallinghurst says it's increased its offer by 40 cents to $4.50 a share. Just last month Consolidated recommended a revised offer from rival bidder Palmary Enterprises for the same amount $4.50 a share. Both companies are trying to get their hands on Consolidated's manganese deposits ? which make up about 10 per cent of the world's supply of the metal. Shares in Consolidated Minerals ended the session 0.21% lower at $4.79, losing 3.23% on the week.

And Air New Zealand today dismissed speculation it was interested in buying a stake in Virgin Blue. In a statement, the airline said there was no substance to the rumours. In recent weeks analysts and media have been speculating about a possible sale of Toll's stake in the airline. It comes as Air New Zealand faces increasing competition on its domestic routes from competitors Virgin Blue and Qantas. Shares in Air New Zealand ended the session 2.62% higher at $1.96, but shed 2 per cent on the week.

Taking a look at some of the week's main stories now, on Monday Symbion agreed to look at a revised tie-up plan with Healthscope. The revised bid came after Symbion last month rejected a $2.9 billion deal between the two companies after its major shareholder, Primary Healthcare, used its voting power to quash the original deal. But the relationship between Symbion and Primary Health Care turned publicly bitter today when Primary lashed out at the takeover target for refusing to talk with its management. Primary says Symbion's decision to reject its latest proposal was regrettable and myopic and questioned whether the company was acting in the best interest of shareholders. The comments came in the midst of a tense relationship between rival Healthscope and Primary for control of Symbion's valuable medical testing assets. Shares in Symbion Health ended the session 0.48% lower at $4.14, and are down 1.43% on the week.

And the Bank of Queensland announced an annual cash profit rise of 22 percent at the top end of forecasts. The Brisbane-based lender enjoyed strong loan and deposit growth with a net profit of over $106 million compared to $87 million a year ago. The results were driven by a 27 percent rise in loans under management and a 33 percent lift in retail deposits. Australia's eighth biggest bank also announced a management restructure following its recent acquisitions and says it's well placed to handle the global credit squeeze. Shares in the Bank of Queensland ended the session 1.03% lower to close at $19.20, but are up 4.35% on the week.

And now to today's best and worst performer, the best performing index was the Information Technology index gaining 3 points to 573, while the worst performing index was the Health Care index shedding 80 points to 9065.

AWB was the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 today adding 7.93% to $2.45; Centro Retail Group and Centro Shopping America Trust also made solid gains.

At the other end of the index; Monadelphous was the worst performing stock losing 3.95% to $14.85; Perilya and Sims Group also finished lower.

The Aussie dollar is currently fetching 89.72 U.S cents and is steady on the week.

Gold is trading at $747.90 U.S an ounce and gained $5.60 on the week's trading.

And finally, oil is 6 cents weaker at $83.02 U.S a barrel and is up $2.06 on the week.

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

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>>> AIR NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
>>> BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED.
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>>> HEALTHSCOPE LIMITED
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