Sydney, July 27, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Australian shares have plummeted up to 2.5 per cent in morning trade, the biggest one-day percentage fall in five months, after a plunge in U.S. stocks, with global miners leading the slide. Dealers said that worries of a rise in domestic interest rates as soon as next month also rattled sentiment.

At Midday the ASX200 index has dived 144 points to 6,115 and on the futures market the SPI 200's down 149.

In company news this hour, the top four banks all fell over 1 per cent. Wednesday's surprisingly strong second-quarter inflation data prompted investors to increase bets on a rate rise in August. ANZ Bank last traded 1.56% lower at $28.33 and Westpac eased 1.23% to $25.78

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