A spokesman for the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) said trading in Rupert Murdoch's global media giant was voluntarily halted by the company before the opening of trading. "They sought a halt and we agreed," the ASX spokesman said.

The halt will remain in force until either News Corp makes an announcement to the ASX or for a period of up to 48 hours. "We expect they will be trading tomorrow if that time frame as reported (by the media) is kept," the ASX spokesman said.

Analysts expect an announcement will be made in New York late Monday. Local analysts were positive after The Wall Street Journal reported News Corp was preparing to make a $3.7 billion bid for Chris-Craft. "I'M Generally positive, depending on how they fund it," an industrial analyst with DD Tolhurst said.

"The only difficulty I have is how he (Murdoch) is going to fund it and whether he is going to use cash and extra borrowings or issue more preferred stock - to me that is a bit of a negative." Reports in the United States over the weekend said News Corp was preparing to make a $85 a share offer for Chris-Craft. News Corp. already owns 22 television stations in the United States through its Fox Entertainment Group.

Any acquisition of Chris-Craft would add another 10 television stations to the News Corp. stable. The Wall Street Journal reported 60 per cent of the purchase would be funded through News Corp's ADRs, with the balance to come from the company's cash reserves.