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MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed around four per cent higher on Monday, boosted by gains in the financial and resources sector and a rally on United States markets on Friday.
At the 1615 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had gained 141.7 points, or 4.06 per cent, to 3,631.6, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 126.6 points, or 3.69 per cent, at 3,553.8.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index futures contract was up 112 points at 3,635 on a volume of 32,325 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.
CMC Markets analyst David Taylor said despite grim global economic data, much of it had already been factored into the market, bargain-hunters were snapping up cheap stocks.
"Today was a broad-based buying opportunity for anyone hungry to get back in," he said.
Mr Taylor said the materials and financials sectors led the market upwards, with energy stocks boosted by a higher price for oil in Asian trading and speculation that Santos could become a takeover target.
"This meant that our oil stocks did exceptionally well," he said.
"The energy sector has pushed up behind the finance and materials sector and provided an extremely good base for the whole market to push ahead."
In the banking sector, National Australia Bank rose $1.15 to $20.96, Commonwealth Bank lifted $1.90 to $32.80, Westpac gained $1.03 to $17.88 and ANZ improved 33 cents to $14.93.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was up $1.07 to $27.22, and Rio Tinto added eight cents to $32.08.
Ivanhoe Australia surged six cents, or 23.08 per cent, to 32 cents after high-grade molybdenum and rhenium were discovered at its Mount Dore project in Queensland's Cloncurry region.
Santos jumped $1.10, or 9.05 per cent, to $13.25 amid rumours that a Chinese company was considering teaming up with a partner to make a joint bid for the Australian group.
Oil and gas provider Woodside Petroleum was up $2.59, or 8.5 per cent, at $33.05.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index jumped 259.18 points, or 3.09 per cent, to 8,635.42.
In the gold sector, Lihir stepped forward seven cents to $2.32, Newmont was steady at $4.65 and Newcrest was $1.09 stronger at $26.17.
The price of gold in Sydney at 1626 AEDT was US$764.30 per fine ounce, down US$2.90 on Friday's close of US$767.20.
In the retail setor, Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, ascended 47 cents to $16.98, and Woolworths picked up 73 cents at $26.82.
Telco Telstra added 10 cents at $4.22 and Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications eased three cents to $2.60.
Among media stocks, Consolidated Media rose 22 cents to $2.20 and Fairfax dipped 1.5 cents to $1.45.
News Corp was up 36 cents to $13.25, and its non-voting stock gained 35 cents to $12.50.
Among other stocks, national carrier Qantas lifted 16 cents to $2.38 as chief executive Alan Joyce said there would be major benefits if the airline merged with British Airways, but there were still a number of hurdles to overcome and a tie-up was not guaranteed.
Diagnostics developer HealthLinx nudged up one cent to five cents as a trial of a new ovarian cancer medical test found it had a 98 per cent accuracy rate in early-stage diagnosis.
Building materials supplier James Hardie Industries NV rose seven cents to $4.20 as it said a dramatic rise in its share price last week was in line with its counterparts in the US, where the majority of its sales were made.
Clothing manufacturer Pacific Brands sagged two cents to 58.5 cents as it denied it was planning a capital raising after deteriorating retail conditions forced the company to revise its dividend policy.
The top-traded stock by volume was gold explorer Dragon Mining, with 102.18 million shares worth $.,53 million changing hands.
Dragon was down 0.1 cents to 1.5 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 1.18 billion shares worth $3.73 billion, with 492 up, 418 down and 265 unchanged.
- AAP
