澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-02-27（在线收听）

The corporate regulator has ditched its appeal against two former OneTel directors. ASIC lost a civil case against Jodee Rich and Mark Silbermann in November last year. Now it says an appeal will cost too much time and money. ASIC alleged the pair gave misleading information about the company's finances before its collapse. But the judge said it had failed to prove any part of its case.

Shares in ANZ Bank and Woolworths have rallied after the companies each reported interim profits of more than one billion dollars. Top insurer QBE fell despite a strong result after revealing its overseas markets were being hit by a strong Aussie dollar. Global miners BHP and Rio were up despite soft metal prices.

Those strong results pushed the local market higher. The ASX closed up almost one percent. In Japan the Nikkei rose, thanks to a rise in Toyota share price despite a strong yen hurting the exporters. And the dollar is buying 89 US cents and 58 British pence.

And house prices extended their rally in January after climbing almost 12 percent over the previous year according to RP Data. Official figures show home lending increased 0.7 percent in January seasonally adjusted and 8.2 percent over the year.

That’s ABC Business News.