Sydney, July 16, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Australian shares could post modest gains upon opening, underpinned by a strong finish on Wall Street last week, and with mining stocks likely to remain in focus after Rio Tinto's successful bid for Alcan.

On Friday, the ASX was up 26 points finishing 6,389. On the futures market the SPI200 is up 7.

Turning to currencies, At 8:40 AM the Aussie dollar is buying 86.97 US cents, on the crosses the dollar is buying 106 yen, 63.15 Euro cents, and 42.79 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=20070716


Audio Link

http://www.finnewsnetwork.com/asxgen/get_asx.aspx?site=abnnewswire&media=preopening.wma&content_type=BUSINESS_REPORT&date=20070716