Sydney, July 18, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The Australian share market finished lower today. Weaker oil prices weighed on stocks like Woodside Petroleum, while the big miners lost investor favour with falling base metal prices.

The ASX 200 Index closed down 53 points at 6329, and on the futures market the SPI 200 gained 3 points.

In economic news, the economy has slowed a fraction but will remain strong over the next three to nine months that's according to Westpac. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity fell to 6.1 per cent in May. That's down from 7.4 per cent in February. The annualised rate of growth in the index is still well above its long-term trend of 4.4 per cent

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

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/MPAX583B


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/1T2Y4X61

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