澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-10-21（在线收听）

Let's first take a check of the markets. And stocks have been modestly higher this morning. There was a good rise when the markets open but now the All Ords and the ASX 200 are on the up around one-fifth of a per cent.

Tabcorp is leading the way after returning to trade after completing part of its $430 million capital raising. Ten is adding to yesterday's surge, ahead of its full year results today, while IIuka is up after a rise in third quarter production.

In the US, stocks rallied from yesterday's biggest losses in two months.

And to commodities, gold has been higher and oil is also up.

And the Australian dollar has risen. It's buying about 98.5 US cents.

And Wesfarmers' latest figures show its supermarket chain Coles beat its rival Woolworths in the first quarter. Coles' quarterly food and liquor sales jump 6.2 per cent from a year ago, far outstripping Woolworths, 2 per cent increase. After buying Coles in 2007, Wesfarmers has been trying to turn the business around and it says the hard work is starting to pay dividends.

The big miners have called an urgent meeting today to consider abandoning support for the Government’s resources tax. The Australian newspaper reports BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata will attend the meeting over fears the Government is backing away from a key part of the deal. The dispute centres on whether miners will be exposed to increases in state mining royalties.