Sydney, July 3, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Australian shares rose in morning trade as sentiment got a boost from a surge on Wall Street. Resource firms lead the way following a rise in base metal and oil prices. But shares in Wesfarmers and Coles Group fell after the conglomerate agreed to buy Coles in a $20 million deal. Some analysts have concerns about whether Wesfarmers would be able to turn around Coles' core supermarkets and liquor business.

At Midday, the ASX200 index has added 44 points to 6,307 and on the futures market the SPI 200's up 29.

In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics read on retail trade data for the month of May has shown a fall of 0.1 per cent, and May building approvals have also slipped, down 3.2 per cent.

Shares in Sigma Pharmaceuticals have tanked in opening trade after the company cut its full-year earnings forecast. In a bid to soften the news, Sigma also announced an on-market share buyback of nearly 10 percent of its issued shares. Sigma said it expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to increase by 5 percent for the full year ending Jan. 31, 2008. It expected underlying net profit after tax for 2007/08 to be in line with the previous financial year, excluding the interest impact associated with the buyback. Shares in Sigma have tumbled 15.33% to $1.79 and a half cents.

Alinta Limited today announced a major expansion of the Queensland Gas Pipeline, and that a significant new gas transportation agreement with Origin Energy has become unconditional. Alinta will invest $112 million on the pipeline to provide additional capacity to meet the gas needs of the Rio Tinto Aluminium's Yarwun Alumina Refinery when its $1.8 billion expansion project is completed in 2010. Shares in Alinta have eased 0.07% to $15.14.

Higher overnight metal prices mean the best performing index this morning is the Materials Index, 221 points higher at 13,471. Shares in Bolnisi Gold have lifted 3.05% to $2.70. Nufarm and DynoNobel have also advanced.

At the other end of the market, the Health Index is down 99 points to 8,413. No surprises, Sigma Pharmaceuticals is leading the falls plunging 15.33% to $1.79 and a half cents. Healthscope and CSL are also tracking lower.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei is 69 points stronger and in New Zealand the NZSX-50 is down 4.

Gold is currently trading at $656.90 U.S an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 85.65 U.S cents.


Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au

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