DJ Australian Shares Midday: Down 1.0% On US Worries 05/11/2007...

DJ Australian Shares Midday: Down 1.0% On US Worries 05/11/2007 01:19PM AEST

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Fears that shares on Wall Street may tumble later in the global day have sent the Australian share market lower midday Monday. Most shares were down, with the exception of energy and gold shares, which have benefited from higher resource prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 68.0 points or 1.0% at 6628.7 around 0153 GMT, earlier hitting a nine-day low of 6607.5.

Citigroup's confirmation of additional writedowns in the order of US$8 billion to US$10 billion has triggered falls in Asian markets and U.S. stock index futures.

Traders say volumes are light as investors are awaiting Wall Street's reaction to the Citigroup news.

"Investors aren't dumping stocks because the Citigroup news is U.S.-centric, but buyers are cautious due to uncertainty about the potential ramifications for Wall Street and wider market sentiment," said a senior institutional trader at a major brokerage.

"Buyers are being patient and are happy to wait and see what comes out in the U.S. Gold and resources are the only place people can look to put a little bit of new money at the moment," said the trader, who declined to be named.

BHP Billiton is down 1.4% at A$44.36 after falling to A$43.89, while Rio Tinto is near flat at A$111.00.

Woodside Petroleum is up 0.6% at A$52.12, although the trader says crude oil's sharp rise above US$95.00 might start to affect expectations for oil demand and economic growth, thereby curbing upside potential for Woodside.

Newcrest Mining is up 2.0% at A$33.36 after spot gold hit a 28-year high of US$807.70 on Friday.

Investment banks have underperformed amid fears of a further slide in their U.S. peers, with Macquarie Group down 2.8% at A$80.00 and Babc ock & Brown down 3.8% at A$28.49.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is down 1.4% at A$60.11 as investors await an expected interest rate hike on Wednesday.

Nufarm is up 10.8% at A$17.28 after a ChemChina-Blackstone consortium offered A$17.25 a share.