Aust Market At Midday, (ASX: HSP), (ASX: SYB), (ASX: ANZ)

Sydney, Oct 8, 2007 (ABN Newswire) -

The share market rose to a fresh record high this morning. U.S. exposed firms led the market higher following the release of solid U.S. jobs data which boosted optimism about the world's largest economy. Firmer bas metal prices also helped lift the big miners.

At Midday the S&P/ASX200 index has risen 67 points to 6,672 and on the futures market the SPI 200's up 73.

In economic news, the construction industry has experienced its strongest rate of growth in more than a year. The Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association Performance of Construction Index rose 6.8 points to 55.2 in September. It came in above the key 50 point level that separates expansion from contraction. The result was underpinned by an improvement in home building, and stronger engineering and commercial activity.

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

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/6R4886LI

Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/S5U98E2P

In company news this hour, shares in Healthscope and Symbion have been placed on trading halt. The market is now waiting to see if Healthscope will pursue a revised deal with Symbion after its nearly $3 billion offer for the group narrowly failed to win shareholder approval. Last month rival healthcare provider Primary Health Care voted its 20 per cent stake in Symbio against Heathscope's takeover proposal. Symbion said its shares would not resume trading until October the 10th or an announcement was made to the market. Shares is Healthscope last traded at $5.75. Meanwhile shares in Symbion Health last traded at $4.20.

And the ANZ Bank says it's decided to retain ownership of Origin Mortgage Management Services. The bank said in a statement that it's completed a review and decided to hang onto the mortgage business in light of market conditions. The bank says it started to review its options after receiving approaches for the business from unidentified third parties. The mortgage business has around 40,000 loans and is worth around $7 billion. Shares in the ANZ Bank are 1.01% higher at $30.88.

Turning now to market indices. All the major indices were up this morning. The index posting the biggest gain by percentage points is the Telecommunications index, up 22 points at 1,578. Shares in Telstra IRS are up 2.1% to $2.92, while Telstra and SingTel are also higher.

The index with the smallest gain by percentage points is the Utilities index, up 14 points to 7404. Mariner shares are down 1.44% to $2.06. Duet Group and AGL Energy shares have also lost ground.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei is closed for a public holiday and in New Zealand the NZSX-50 is up 15.

Gold is currently trading at $742.10 U.S an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 90.17 U.S cents.

Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au

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