Aussie stocks close in positive territory

MELBOURNE - The Australian share market has closed in positive territory after lacklustre trading as investors awaited key data from overseas.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 9.6 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 4,739 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 9.4 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 4,759.6 points.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 1615 AEDT, the December share price index contract was eight points higher at 4,756 on 24,007 contracts.

"The market has really been lacklustre," said Macquarie Equities associate director Lucinda Chan.

"If it wasn't for oil and gold prices being up we could even have turned the other way," Ms Chan said.

Among the major miners, BHP Billiton closed up 10 cents at $40.60 while rival Rio Tinto fell 80 cents to $72.60.

Gold miners built on recent gains, as the price of the precious metal continued to trade around record levels.

Lihir Gold put on five cents to $3.52, Newcrest rose 22 cents to $35.46 and Newmont gained 10 cents to $5.64.

At 1615 AEDT the local spot price of gold was US$1,137.60 per fine ounce, up US$2.20 on Tuesday's close of US$1,135.40.

Energy stocks traded mixed, with Woodside Petroleum down eight cents at $49.52 and rival Oil Search one cent stronger at $5.85.

Gas giant Santos lost 24 cents to $15.00 and Origin Energy lost 33 cents to $16.25.

Ms Chan said the market was directionless as investors awaited key economic data expected from the US.

The US Consumer Price Index data for October is due out overnight, with a stable figure expected, she said.

Banks were mostly stronger.

Ms Chan said ANZ and National Australia Bank (NAB) had pulled the financial sector into positive territory.

"These two stocks have a fair bit offshore, so the growth stories are probably driving these two, with Asia for ANZ and America and the UK markets for NAB," she said.

National Australia Bank was up 11 cents at $28.61 and ANZ was up 27 cents at $22.16 while Macquarie Group rose 10 cents to $48.82.

But Commonwealth Bank fell 34 cents to $52.30 and Westpac fell four cents to $24.66.

Among media stocks, News Corp was one cent higher at $15.94 while the company's non-voting scrip was two cents stronger at $13.57.

Fairfax Media rose one cent to $1.73 but Consolidated Media fell one cent to $3.13.

Retailers were also mixed, with Wesfarmers up seven cents at $29.39, Woolworths rising two cents to $28.42 and Myer gaining eight cents to $3.93.

But David Jones lost nine cents to $5.79 and Harvey Norman dropped eight cents to $4.35.

The top-traded stock by volume was pharmaceutical company OBJ Ltd, with 109.4 million shares worth $3.51 million changing hands.

Its shares were up 0.4 cents, or 14.29 per cent, at 3.2 cents.

Preliminary national turnover was 2.77 billion shares worth $5.29 billion, with 564 stocks up, 539 down and 338 unchanged.

- AAP