The sale follows the October approvals by RAMS shareholders of the sale of the group''s franchise network and all of the future business it writes to Westpac, at $140 million with RAMS retaining its existing mortgage book.

RAMS stock was up 3.3%.

The Australian dollar rose to 0.9589 from 0.9540 yesterday. The dollar has been falling from 0.9837 late last week, after investors decided to reduce holdings of higher yielding assets bought with Japanese loans following losses in global stock markets.

Of the ASX 200 index shares, Centro Properties led the gainers with a rise of 14.7% followed by increases in Lynas Corp Limited of 11%, in Aquarius platinum of 6.4%, in ABB Grain Limited of 4.8%, and in Macmahon Holdings of 4.4%.

Of the ASX 200 index stocks Fortescue Metals led the decliners with a fall of 6.5% followed by losses in APN News & Media of 6%, in Pacific Brands of 5.3%, in Flight Centre of 3.9% and in Boart Longyear of 3.8%.