Sydney, July 12, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The Australian share market rallied today. The market was pushed higher by Macquarie Bank and Rio Tinto touched a record high on talks of a possible rival bid for Alcan.

The ASX 200 Index close up 38 points at 6363, and on the futures market the SPI 200 also gained 38 points.

In economic news, Australian employment growth slowed in June. The unemployment rate edged up to 4.3 per cent up from 4.2 per cent in May. TD Securities senior strategist Joshua Williamson says he doesn't think today's result should in any way let analysts infer that this is the start of a new trend

The full report is available at the following video and audio links.

Video Link

http://www.finnewsnetwork.com/asxgen/get_asx.aspx?site=abnnewswire&intro=MBL_Marketwrap.wmv&media=close(Broadband).wmv&content_type=BUSINESS_REPORT&date=20070712


Audio Link

http://www.finnewsnetwork.com/asxgen/get_asx.aspx?site=abnnewswire&media=close.wma&content_type=BUSINESS_REPORT&date=20070712