Sydney, Oct 18, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The share market rallied today. The National Australia Bank led the charge north with other financial stocks following suit. The big miners shrugged off weaker metal prices to gain ground as well.

And the S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 88 points higher to 6768, and on the futures market the SPI 200 closed climbed 107 points.

To company news now, BHP chief Marius Kloppers says he sees no near term margin declines. Mr Kloppers told a UBS investment lunch that iron ore, coking coal and manganese markets were tighter than he'd ever seen and the supply-demand balance for copper was favourable. According to Reuters, despite increasing costs, the miner is confident it will continue to be able to pass 80 per cent of the commodity price gains it secures straight through to the group's profits. Shares in BHP Billiton closed 3.02% higher at $47.70.

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And Iluka Resources has posted increased volumes of mineral sands. Volumes rose by 6 and-a-half per cent in the third quarter reflecting the catch-up of planned shipments deferred from the first half. Total volumes for the period climbed 27 per cent. Zircon production was up 14 per cent following the contribution from the company's Murray Basin project. Shares in Illuka Resources closed 1.16% lower at $5.13.

In other news today, shares in Transfield Services rose after the company said it had bought two U.S. maintenance firms for US$147.5 million.

Queensland Rail says it plans to launch rail freight services from Melbourne to Perth providing competition for listed company Asciano.

Global Iron made a very strong trading debut today. The iron ore explorer opened at 56 cents more than double its issue price of 20 cents. The session finished the session at 70 cents.

Wesfarmers says it's appointed Archie Norman ? former chief of U.K. grocery chain Asda ? to advise on the acquisition of the Coles Group.

And Clancy Exploration announced today that two significant Induced Polarisation geophysical anomolies have been identified in the company's joint venture in the Macquarie Arc of NSW. Managing director Mark Stewart says the IP anomolies were robust and encouraging and provided an immediate focus for drilling. Shares in the company gained significantly on the news.

Now to today's best and worst performers, the best performing index today was the Materials index gaining 377 points to 16,112, while among the worst performing indices was the Telecommunications index shedding 15 points to 1670.

Pan Australian Resources was the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 rising 10.5% to $1; Aquarius Platinum and Transfield Services also rose.

Healthscope was the worst performing stock today losing 3.75% to $5.39; Australian Worldwide Exploration and Mt Gibson Iron also retreated.

To commodities now, gold is currently trading at $759.90 US an ounce and light crude is 9 cents firmer at $87.49 US a barrel.

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

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