AFTERNOON REPORT
(5.30pm AEDT)

The share market rally continued today, with local stocks gaining for the third session in a row. Investor optimism was boosted by strong gains in the US and Europe overnight after the European Central Bank announced new measures to provide cash strapped banks with liquidity. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 92.9pts today or 2.3pct to 4225 while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) gained 93pts or 2.3pct to 4162.9. Over the course of the trading week, the XAO gained 3.8pct, its biggest weekly gain in a year.

Financial, mining and energy players all recorded solid gains. Shares in Macquarie Group (MQG) rose 6.7pct to $24.06 while Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) was firmer by 7.7pct to $4.90 and Caltex (CTX) firmed by 3.8pct to $12.67.

Despite a delay for many Qantas (QAN) passengers today, shares in the airline gained 3.5pct to $1.495. Engineers had planned further strike action today. That was called off but it was too late for Qantas to revert to its earlier schedule, meaning many flights were cancelled or delayed.

Shares in Newscorp (NWS) fell 0.9pct today to $16.47. The company has been issued with more writs this week, as it continues to face legal action over the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Telstra (TLS) shares were also lower, down 1pct to $3.03.

The Australian dollar recovered some ground to finish the day's trade at US97.93c, £0.6334 and €72.89c.

On the market overall, a total of 2.1 billion shares were traded, worth $6.8 billion. 781 were up, 271 were down and 297 were unchanged.

At 5.30pm AEDT on the ASX24, the futures contract was t 4189, up 13pts.

Ahead tonight, key jobs numbers are released in the US. Economists expect around 70,000 jobs were added to the American economy in September, which should keep unemployment at 9.1pct.

Employment will dominate the local economic calendar next week, with job advertisements due on Monday and the September labour figures due on Thursday. Unemployment is tipped to remain steady at 5.3pct.