Investors are encouraged by how well iPods are selling

Traders welcomed the figures, released after markets closed on Wednesday, pushing its shares up 6.2% to $40.75.

Apple made a $320m (�262m) profit in the second quarter - up from $61m in the corresponding period last year - a record for any three-month period.

Sales surged 75% to $3.52bn, fuelled by a six-fold increase in sales of iPods.

Apple has now sold more than 20 million iPods.

Market reward

The company also shipped 1.2 million Macintosh computers during the past quarter.

Apple's figures - combined with positive trading data from microprocessor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) - helped push the US Nasdaq technology market up for the sixth consecutive day.

"These numbers that are coming out are good and the market is rewarding them," Joe Kalinowski, chief investment officer at JSK Capital Partners, said of the Apple and AMD figures.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said on Wednesday that he was "delighted" with the company's revenue and profits return.

He also said the launch of Mac OS X Tiger - an advanced operating system for its core software - had been a "tremendous success".