Sydney, Nov 1, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The share market rose to new all-time high today. Resource firms pushed the market forward spurred on by record oil prices. Meanwhile Telstra also provided a wave of buying activity after lifting its 2008 profit forecast - more on that a little later.

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

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/34SD807C


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/OOGOV387


Turning to the markets now: And the S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 75 points higher to 6829, and on the futures market the SPI 200 rose 50 points.

To company news now: Telstra has raised its 2008 profit forecast. Australia's largest phone company now says its full year earnings before interest and tax will rise between 5 and 7 per cent in fiscal 2008 from the previous 3-5 per cent forecast in August. The telco has put the improved performance down to cost cutting, and increased revenue from 3G mobile phone use. Telstra is currently two years into a five year program aimed at slashing costs and reducing the company's dependence on shrinking revenue from fixed line phones. Shares in Telstra closed 0.64% higher at $4.71.

And Midwest Corp says the takeover offer from Murchison Metals may be premature. According to Reuters, Midwest chief executive Bryan Oliver says both companies needed to conduct more work to figure out how much ore each can realistically expect to mine before deciding whether to combine operations. Midwest is currently gauging the opinion of its top 20 shareholders over the offer but is yet to give a formal response. If successful the deal with consist of an all share offer worth around $934 million. Shares in Midwest Corp closed 1.73% higher at $5.28.

In other news today: Shares in Monadelphous rose after the firm announced it had won three construction projects worth a total of about $180 million.

Straights Resources climbed after its subsidiary Straits Asia Resources announced the acquisition of a coal mine in Indonesia for 350 million U.S. dollars.

UBS has raised its rating on St George Bank from neutral to a buy.

And Westfield has opened a $174 million mall in Auckland. A spokesman for the company says the centre was Westfield's largest development project to date in the market.

Now to today's best and worst performers:

The best performing index today was the Utilities index gaining 142 points to 7022, while the worst performing index was the Health Care index shedding 75 points to 9424.
Compass Resources was the best performer in the S&P/ASX top 200 climbing 9.86% to $3.90; Paladin Resources and Beach Petroleum were also in favour today.

Macarthur Coal was the worst performing stock today losing 5.86% to $8.52; Mt Gibson Iron and Paperlinx also retreated.

To commodities now:

Gold is currently trading at $797.50 US an ounce and light crude is up $1.26 to $95.79 US a barrel.

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

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