Australian stocks: Market closes marginally higher

MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed marginally higher on Tuesday following gains by the big miners and energy stocks.

However, the rise was muted in comparison with Wall Street's near seven per cent surge on American government plans to clean up poorly performing loans on US bank balance sheets.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 29.7 points, or 0.84 per cent, higher at 3580, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 34.2 points, or 0.98 per cent to 3517.3.

At 1616 AEDT on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was 46 points higher at 3599, on a volume of 27,780 contracts.

Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said Wall Street's positive move prompted the gains on the local market, with oil-based stocks and the big miners the drivers.

"We bolted out of the gate given the six per cent plus moves on Wall Street last night but it was very much a see-sawing day, certainly for some of the major bank stocks," Mr Heffernan told AAP.

"The oil-based stocks along with BHP and Rio did the driving today, while the financials ran out of puff towards the end."

The local market opened stronger after Wall Street surged overnight on the US government's plan to help banks remove bad assets from the books, and a report showing a surprising increase in home sales.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 497.48 points, or 6.84 per cent, to close at 7,775.86.

Locally, the big miners were stronger, with BHP Billiton adding 48 cents to $33.80 and rival Rio Tinto putting on $2.84, or 5.62 per cent to $53.37.

The banking sector was mixed, with ANZ gaining 25 cents to $15.50, National Australia Bank putting on three cents to $19.82, Westpac finding 19 cents to $19.14 and Commonwealth Bank shedding 70 cents to $34.38.

The retailers were mixed, with Harvey Norman picking up 11 cents to $2.56, David Jones rising six cents to $2.95, Wesfarmers climbing 22 cents to $18.72 and Woolworths losing 22 cents to $24.88.

The media sector was mixed, with Consolidated Media Holdings adding seven cents to $2.18, News Corp gaining 50 cents to $10.92, its non-voting shares putting on 54 cents to $9.69 and Fairfax falling 2.5 cents to $1.01.

Prime Media Group, which is in a trading halt with its stock last trading at 60 cents, plans to raise up to $110 million from a share issue, with Kerry Stoke's Seven Network set to buy about $25 million.

OrotonGroup put on 41 cents to $2.61 after the company said it expected full year earnings to improve after the clothing and accessory retailer posted a 20 per cent rise in first half profit.

Telecommunications provider SP Telemedia picked up 5.5 cents to 21.5 cents after it doubled its first half net profit from the corresponding period last year and reaffirmed its full year guidance.

Gaming firm Tabcorp Holdings gained three cents to $6.36, with the group seeking to raise about $200 million through the issue of Tabcorp Bonds - new debt securities that will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The banking sector was mixed, with ANZ gaining 25 cents to $15.50, National Australia Bank putting on three cents to $19.82, Westpac finding 19 cents to $19.14 and Commonwealth Bank shedding 70 cents to $34.38.

The retailers were mixed, with Harvey Norman picking up 11 cents to $2.56, David Jones rising six cents to $2.95, Wesfarmers climbing 22 cents to $18.72 and Woolworths losing 22 cents to $24.88.

The media sector was mixed, with Consolidated Media Holdings adding seven cents to $2.18, News Corp gaining 50 cents to $10.92, its non-voting shares putting on 54 cents to $9.69 and Fairfax falling 2.5 cents to $1.01.

Prime Media Group, which is in a trading halt with its stock last trading at 60 cents, plans to raise up to $110 million from a share issue, with Kerry Stoke's Seven Network set to buy about $25 million.

OrotonGroup put on 41 cents to $2.61 after the company said it expected full year earnings to improve after the clothing and accessory retailer posted a 20 per cent rise in first half profit.

Telecommunications provider SP Telemedia picked up 5.5 cents to 21.5 cents after it doubled its first half net profit from the corresponding period last year and reaffirmed its full year guidance.

Gaming firm Tabcorp Holdings gained three cents to $6.36, with the group seeking to raise about $200 million through the issue of Tabcorp Bonds - new debt securities that will be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The energy sector was stronger, with Woodside adding $1.72, or 4.47 per cent, to $40.18, Santos gaining 17 cents to $16.13 and Oil Search putting on 28 cents to $5.44.

Coal miner New Hope Corporation shed 16 cents to $3.83 despite reaffirming its full year profit guidance after delivering a significant rise in earnings for the half on higher commodity prices.

The spot price of gold was trading at US$942.30 an ounce by 1623 AEDT, down US$12.80 per fine ounce on Monday's local close of US$955.10 an ounce.

The gold miners were weaker, with Newcrest losing 60 cents to $33.06, Lihir falling 11 cents to $3.29 and Newmont dropping 16 cents to $6.23.

Goodman Group was the most traded stock by volume, with 70.18 million shares changing hands, worth $25.59 million.

The company gained eight cents, or 26.67 per cent, to close at 38 cents.

Preliminary market turnover reached 1.68 billion, worth $4.46 billion, with 633 stocks up, 317 down and 266 unchanged.

- AAP