Sydney, Oct 19, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Morning trading has seen Aussie stocks back-pedal from yesterday's feverish buying, as profit-taking amongst the top banks on lingering credit worries and a breather in BHP Billiton sees the market dip ahead of the weekend.

At Midday the S&P/ASX200 index has fallen 48 points to 6,719 and on the futures market the SPI 200's down 68.

In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on international trade price data for the June quarter. The report showed that third quarter import prices fell 0.8 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.

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

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/1SZS501L


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/J8NC5JG1


And good news for the car industry was a report showing new motor vehicle sales have risen 1.8 per cent seasonally adjusted in the third quarter compared to the same time a year ago.

In company news this hour, Australian mineral sands miner Iluka Resources this morning cut its 2007 profit forecast by as much as 31 per cent, hit by a strong Australian dollar and tight shipping markets. Iluka said it now expects net profit in 2007 to be between $45-50 million, down from a previous forecast of $55-65 million. This is the second time Iluka has cut its earnings estimate. Iluka Managing Director David Robb said the movement in the exchange rate materially impacts Iluka's profit as the majority of revenue from product sales is denominated in U.S. dollars. Iluka Resources shares are 4.87% lower at $4.88.

In contrast to Iluka, wheat exporter AWB has revised up its forecast for 2007 financial year net profit to a range of $25-30 million. In May it had said after its first-half result that year net profit was likely to be 30-40 percent below the previous year's $58.1 million result, which translates to a range of around $17-23 million. AWB said the improved outlook was due to the international commodities business which had benefited from favourable commodity trading conditions. AWB shares soared 9.57% higher to $2.52.

Now to warrants from Macquarie Bank. Warrant traders believing the pull-back in BHP provided a prime buying opportunity bought upside leveraging to a bounce, with activity in BHPWMO Nov07 $50.00 Call and BHPIMO Apr08 $40.00 Deferred Instalment worthy mentions.

CSL shares have jumped almost two percent in trade today after a key competitor's report overnight highlighted the positive conditions in the plasma market. Warrant investors that also liked the announcement and anticipate further upward momentum opened positions to the long side through CSLIMA Dec07 $26.666 Instalment and CSLIMP Mar08 $30.00 Instalment.

Turning now to market indices, the only index posting a gain by percentage points this morning is the Health index gaining 39 points to 9,278. Shares in Living Cell Technologies are up 3.33 % to $0.31, while Progen Pharmaceuticals and Avexa are also higher.

The index posting the biggest loss by percentage points is the Financial excluding Property Trust index, down 88 points to 7,609. FKP Property shares are down 2.98% to $7.16. Allco Finance and St George Bank shares have also lost ground.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei is down 316 but in New Zealand the NZSX50 is up 3.

Gold is currently trading at $768.60 U.S an ounce and one Australian dollar's buying 89.24 U.S cents.


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

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