St George leads charge to new peak

The sharemarket closed at a record high, boosted by the leading mining stocks and with St George's solid profit result encouraging demand for most of the big banks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index put on 32 points to 5416.4, beating the previous closing high of 5399.4 set on Monday. The benchmark also set a new intraday high of 5419.1, beating the previous peak of 5409.9, also set on Monday.
ABN Amro Morgans' senior client adviser, Roger Chandler, said the market was buoyant. "St George's result was very good. That pushed the banks, especially the ones that haven't reported (their results) yet," he said. Higher metals prices and a strong Australian dollar lifted the resource sector.
St George reported a $1 billon-plus profit, slightly above market consensus, helping it gain 9¢ to $32.50. Westpac reports today and National Australia Bank tomorrow.
Westpac was 6¢ higher at $24.01, National Australia Bank lifted 26¢ to $38.44 and ANZ improved 50¢ to $29.54, but Commonwealth Bank scraped off 1¢ to $47.69.
In the resource sector, BHP Billiton rose 24¢ to $27.52 and Rio Tinto jumped 71¢ to $79.11.
Woodside Petroleum was 49¢ richer at $38.04 and Santos firmed 5¢ to $10.64.
Newcrest climbed 57¢ to $24.42 and Lihir picked up 5¢ to $2.80 as gold continued its ascent from a low of $US573.35 on Tuesday last week. At the close in Sydney it was up $US6.88 an ounce at $US607.88.
In the media sector, PBL slipped 6¢ to $19.32 while Fairfax found 4¢ to $4.90. News Corp's non-voting shares surrendered 16¢ to $27.05 and the voting scrip lost 15¢ to $28.20.
Coles Myer was 23¢ heavier at $13.81 and supermarket rival Woolworths advanced 38¢ to $21.07.
Telstra eased 4¢ to $3.92.
Takeover target Australian Pharmaceutical Industries was 1¢ lighter at $2.61 and predator Sigma Pharmaceuticals was steady at $2.58 as Sigma said it was discussing acquiring a 19.9 per cent stake in API with two major API shareholders.
Property developer Multiplex rose 5¢ to $3.73 after it said it was reviewing alternatives to its existing capital structure.
Transport group Toll Holdings was up 4¢ at $15.54 after its rail operator, Pacific National, sold back its lease of the Victorian regional rail network to the Victorian Government for $133.8 million.
Shares in retirement village and aged-care provider Aevum dipped 2¢ to $2.10 as it considered expanding into Queensland.
On Wall Street on Tuesday night, the market reversed for a second session as weaker than expected data on consumer confidence and Midwest business activity outweighed positive news on corporate deals and earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed for a second session, dipping 5.77 points to 12,080.73.