Sydney - Thursday - October 27: (RWE Aust Business News) - The...

Sydney - Thursday - October 27: (RWE Aust Business News) - The Australian sharemarket climbed sharply today in a session reduced to two hours by technical problems at the ASX as traders reacted to news of a deal between EU leaders and private investors to help resolve the Greek debt crisis.

The ASX 200 index gained 105.7 points to 4348.2 and the All Ordinaries index advanced 103.1 points to 4403.9.

The December SPI200 contract surged 135 points to 4357.

Trading was busy considering the reduced trading with turnover of $4.2 billion, comprising 667 rises, 272 falls and 313 steadies.

BHP Billiton was the busiest stock by value with turnover of $500 million and gained $1.41 to $38.35.

Rio Tinto advanced $2.96 to $69.70, OZ minerals surged 66c to $11.75, Fortescue Metals soared 41c to $5.03, Mirabela Nickel climbed 21c to $1.695 and Newcrest improved 55c to $34.95.

Among the banks National Australia Bank climbed 92c to $25.87 after announcing net profit rose 23.6 per cent to $5.2 billion in year to September and lifted final dividend from 84c to 88c.

Commonwealth rose 88c to $49.99, ANZ was up 41c at $22 and Westpac improved 46c to $22.76.

Macquarie Group rose $1.24 to $24.35, QBE surged 58c to $14.58, Stockland gained 8c to $3.21, Bluescope Steel jumped 3.5c to 88.5c, Boral advanced 15c to $3.88, Amcor shed 2c to $7.34, Fairfax Media was up 3.5c at 90.5c, Tabcorp gained 9c to $2.96, Wesfarmers improved 78c to $32.68, Leighton rose 79c to $22.35, Qantas gained 5.5c to $1.57, David Jones climbed 17c to $3.53, JB Hi-Fi surged 66c to $16.40, Cochlear rose $1.10 to $59, Santos soared 86c to $13.31 and Oil Search was 24c higher at $6.42.

Flight Centre climbed 95c to $19.50 after the AGM was told first-quarter pre-tax profit will be up between 25 and 30 per cent from the same period last year.

Other companies to report today included Ten Network, which rallied 7.5c to 92.5c despite announcing a 90.5 per cent plunge in full-year net profit to $14.2 million, while Woolworths eased 7c to $24.08 following a 4.9 per cent rise in sales to $14.6 billion in the 14 weeks to October 2.

In New Zealand the NZX 50 index rose 6.5 points to 3303.5.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was 131 points ahead at 8880 with about 30 minutes of trading left while Hong Kong's Hang Seng had risen 332 points to 19,399.

Gold is worth $US1,720.90 an ounce and the Australian dollar is changing hands at US105.25c.

Ten-year bond yields were 10.8 points higher at 4.493 per cent.