Sydney, July 13, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Australian shares could rise once again upon opening after a surge on Wall Street, and more takeover speculation in the wake of Rio Tinto's $44.2 billion bid for Alcan.

On Thursday, the ASX was up 38 points finishing 6,363. On the futures market the SPI200 is up 67.

Turning to currencies, the Australian dollar hit a fresh 18-year high against the US dollar which is still being hurt by subprime mortgage market worries. At 8:40 AM the Aussie dollar is buying 86.65 US cents, on the crosses the dollar is buying 106.13 yen, 62.87 Euro cents, and 42.71 British pence

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_AuOutlook.wmv&media=preopening(Broadband).wmv&content_type=BUSINESS_REPORT&date=20070713


Audio Link

http://www.finnewsnetwork.com/asxgen/get_asx.aspx?site=abnnewswire&media=preopening.wma&content_type=BUSINESS_REPORT&date=20070713