Australian shares higher midsession, led by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto

Australian shares higher midsession, led by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto

	Published : Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:41 By : Agencies Print this Story

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares were trading higher midway through the session Friday with leading miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto making solid gains following stronger commodity prices overnight.

'Money is being thrown into the resources sector though the banks are a bit volatile so I don't know whether we will hold the gains this afternoon,' said Reynolds & Co private client advisor Michael Hefferan.

He said the exercise of exchange-traded options had boosted volumes in morning trade.

At 12.20 pm (0220 GMT) was up 56.5 points or 0.9 percent at 6,680.8 while the All Ordinaries index gained 53.7 points or 0.8 percent at 6,698.5.

BHP Billiton was up 93 Australian cents or 2.1 percent at 45.67 dollars while Rio Tinto advanced

3.38 dollars or 3.2 percent to 107.81 dollars.

CommSec equities analyst Juliana Roadley said investors had been encouraged by China's third-quarter economic growth which suggested that commodity prices would remain strong.

Data released on Thursday showed China's gross domestic product grew 11.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.

ANZ was down 22 cents or 0.7 percent at 29.74 dollars, extending a 3.7 percent fall on Thursday after the release of disappointing earnings for the past year to September.

Other major banks were higher with Commonwealth Bank up 31 cents at 59.81 dollars, National Australia Bank rising 36 cents to 42.37 dollars and Westpac gaining 49 cents or 1.7 percent to 28.99 dollars.

Surfwear and accessories group Billabong was down 34 cents or 2.2 percent at 15.11 dollars after it cut its earnings per share guidance for the year to June to growth of 5-10 percent compared with its earlier forecast for a 15 percent increase.

Billabong, which has 45 percent of its sales in the US, said the reduced forecast was due to the

strength of the Australian dollar which has climbed to a 23-year high above 91 US cents on

expectations of rate hikes in Australia and rate cuts in the US.

General insurance group Insurance Australia Group was down 10 cents or 2.0 percent at 4.80

dollars after it cut its growth forecast for premium income.

(1 US dollar = 1.10 US dollars)

bruce.hextall@thomson.com

bhx/ms

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