UPDATE 1-Australia's Ansell profit heads to top end of forecast

* Q1 boosted by currency, cost cuts, higher glove sales

* Shares jump 4 percent, hit highest in almost nine months

(Adds profit factors, share price)

MELBOURNE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Australian gloves and condoms maker Ansell Ltd (ANN.AX) said on Wednesday that first-quarter results were ahead of its expectations and forecast 2010 earnings per share to be at the top end of its previous guidance.

The earnings surprise sent Ansell's shares to A$10.96, their highest level in almost nine months. Ansell shares were last up 4 percent, outpacing a 1 percent rise in the broader market.

Ansell performed well in the first quarter as it sold more gloves to manufacturers and doctors, cut costs and gained from the translation of other currencies into U.S. dollars, its accounting currency, Chairman Peter Barnes said at its annual meeting.

Ansell said in August it expected earnings for the year to June 2010 to fall to between 56 U.S. cents and 62 U.S. cents a share, down from 66.3 U.S. cents the previous year. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Jonathan Standing and Dhara Ranasinghe)