Boom year for the Aussie sharemarket may continue: Economy roundup

The Australian sharemarket gained 11.8% in 2007, celebrating four years of double-digit growth, despite woes in the US with the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

And fund managers are not ruling out the possibility of the double digit returns continuing in 2008. As the local market resumed trading today, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 45.7 points or 0.7% to 6385.5 before falling back slightly to 6369.5 at 12.30pm today (Jan 2).

The Australian dollar opened weaker this morning, heralding in 2008 below $US0.8800. At 12.30pm, the dollar was nudging down further at $US0.8760.

And good news for the troubled Centro Properties Group, which jumped 15.8% to $1.17 after it invited expressions of interest from outside investors.