KEY POINTS:
The Australian sharemarket closed higher on a rebound in resources stocks on Wednesday in thin trading ahead of the Christmas break.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 50.8 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 3582.2 while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 46.8 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 3515.0.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index futures contract was 67 points lower at 3583 on a volume of 14,311 contracts.
The sharemarket will not trade again until Monday.
CMC Markets corporate dealer Andrew Knight said the Australian market's upwards move on Wednesday was surprising given that US markets were lower overnight and pre-Christmas trading was typically thin.
"The banks on the whole are seeing a bit of buoyancy coming in, but there's no volume behind it," he said.
"The consumer staples (stocks) and the telcos seem to be standing out at the moment.
"Apart from that, it does seem to be driven by a bit of sentiment coming into the market after two down days this week."
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was up 35c to A$28.84, while Rio Tinto added A$1.22 to A$36.59.
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum improved 74c to A$32.90 and Santos stepped forward 32c to A$14.16.
AGL Energy was off 18c at A$15.27 as it made a A$171 million takeover offer for coal seam gas (CSG) producer Sydney Gas.
Sydney Gas was up 15c, or 54.55 per cent, to 42.5c.
Among the major banks, National Australia Bank ascended 51c to A$20.11, Westpac rose 24c to A$16.50, and ANZ was steady at A$14.87.
Commonwealth Bank rose 11c to A$27.15 as it said it would acquire up to A$4 billion of mortgages originated by Wizard Home Loans.
In the retail sector, Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, was up 72c at A$16.92 and Woolworths jumped 67c to A$26.40.
The peak retail industry body, the Retailers' Association, said on Wednesday that pre-Christmas sales were up on last year's record by four per cent.
Telco Telstra was 6c richer at A$3.73 and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications found three cents at A$2.62.
In the media sector, News Corp hovered at A$13.15 and its non-voting stock retreated six cents to A$12.18.
Consolidated Media shed 2c to A$1.85 and Fairfax Media was up 1.5c at A$1.56.
Among gold stocks, Newmont was steady at A$5.48, Newcrest dumped 64c at A$31.78, and Lihir gave away four cents at A$2.81.
The price of gold in Sydney was US$838.95 per fine ounce, down US$5.55 on Tuesday's close of US$844.50.
Among other stocks, real estate investor and developer Goodman Group nudged up 1c to 70c as it completed capital management initiatives worth A$1.2 billion.
Babcock & Brown Infrastructure improved 1.4c to 8.9c as it agreed to sell new shares in its Euroports business to two investors, totalling a 29.7 per cent stake in the business.
The top traded stock by volume was Macquarie Office Trust, with 35.2 million shares worth A$10.3 million changing hands.
National turnover was 587.3 million shares worth A$1.32 billion, with 459 stocks up, 282 down and 257 unchanged.
- AAP