The Australian share market was boosted this morning by a turnaround on Wall Street overnight, as falling oil prices helped quell market nervousness.

At midday the S&P/ASX200 index had risen 49 points, while the All Ordinaries added 43.

Meanwhile the beaten-down US market finally reported gains on Wednesday as oil prices fell for a second straight day, and banking sector concerns were eased by Wells Fargo’s decision to boost its dividend.

At close of trade, the Dow Jones was up by 276 points or more than two per cent, while the Nasdaq composite gained three per cent.

In Asian trading today, Japan’s Nikkei index was up 141 points at midday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng had rose 593.

In ASX news today, oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum reported second quarter revenue of almost $1.5 billion, up 52 per cent on last year.

Woodside said the gains were driven by higher commodity prices and additional production, which was up 17 per cent on year. The Perth-based oil company which is targeting 2008 output of 80-86 million barrels of oil equivalent, produced 19.3 million barrels in the quarter ending June 30th.

Mineral sands miner Iluka Resources also updated the market on its second quarter performance this morning, posting a 21 per cent jump in year on year sales revenue of $259 million.

Iluka said the increase mainly reflected a higher volume of sales across all its products, with strong demand continuing from developing economies. However, mineral sands production dived 20 per cent because of interrupted gas supplies in Western Australia, caused by the Apache pipeline explosion.

Finally, Chinese steel giant Sinosteel has lifted its stake in Australian iron ore explorer Midwest Corp to 54 per cent, with its $1.36 billion takeover offer due to close on Friday.

Midwest Corp is also being pursued by fellow Western Australian iron ore company Murchison Metals, which together with U.S. hedge fund Harbinger Capital, and Midwest director David Law, have large enough stakes to block a full takeover by Sinosteel.

In individual share price movements on the ASX this morning the major resource stocks all fell on lower oil and metals prices. At midday, BHP Billiton was down $1.27, Fortescue Metals fell seven cents, Rio Tinto lost $3.92, while Woodside Petroleum dropped 16 cents.

The major banks were all in positive territory this morning though. At noon ANZ was up 41 cents, Commonwealth Bank gained $1.70, National Australia Bank put on $1.05, while Westpac added 84.

Other blue chips were mixed. AMP added 30 cents, News Corp fell 17, Telstra slipped two cents, while Woolworths surged $1.18.