KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - The Australian share market maintained its recovery today as investors bought up stock discounted by last week's plunge.
At 1615 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 35.4 points at 6144.2 while the All Ordinaries rose 41 points to 6187.5.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was up 56 points to 6129 on a volume of 32,031 contracts.
CMC Markets analyst David Land said some investors had returned with interest to the market today, buying into "stocks that have been sold off quite heavily in recent trading sessions".
"Investors evidently found a bit of a bottom to the selling faster than they did in the US," he said.
"Having said that, times may remain a bit choppy into the immediate future and there will still be a great deal of focus from local investors on the movements in trade in the US."
Mr Land said several companies under recent pressure had performed well including Macquarie Bank, which had given "quite a bounce".
"They're up nearly three per cent today and they've had a string of sessions where they've actually been lower of late.
"They're actually one of the key movers for the session."
Macquarie finished the day A$2.50 up at A$82.50.
The major miners all were trading higher after metals prices rose on the London Metal Exchange overnight.
The world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton, gained 21 cents at A$37.00 and Rio Tinto had added A$1.32 cents to A$93.08.
The major banks were mostly better, with National Australia bank up 21 cents to A$38.36, the ANZ 15 cents better at A$28.30 and Westpac improving 42 cents to A$26.20.
However, the Commonwealth Bank suffered, falling 34 cents to A$54.26.
At 1624 AEST, the price of gold was USA$665.10 per fine ounce, up USA$2.70 on Monday's close.
The gold miners followed the price up as Newcrest rose 37 cents to A$24.90, Newmont was five cents firmer at A$4.91, and Lihir added seven cents at A$3.06.
In market news, Flight Centre shares nose-dived A$1.15 cents to A$18.12 after an independent expert found a proposed joint venture private equity buyout was not fair or reasonable.
Qantas surged 20 cents to A$5.74 amid reports the airline is set to spin off into four separate businesses, in a radical restructure designed to unlock shareholder value.
Rival airline Virgin Blue gained two cents to A$2.33.
At a meeting in Melbourne, shareholders backed the break-up of Smorgon Steel Group Ltd by OneSteel Ltd and BlueScope Steel Ltd.
Shares in all three parties fell back, with Smorgon stock down two cents to A$2.75, OneSteel stock losing 13 cents to A$6.71 and BlueScope giving up 40 cents to A$10.95.
Overnight US equities bounced back after last week's losses, as optimism about earnings returned and credit concerns eased.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 92.84 points, or 0.70 per cent, to end at 13,358.31 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 14.96 points, or 1.03 per cent, to 1,473.91.
The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 21.04 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 2,583.28.
In the retail sector, takeover target Coles Group was up 31 cents at A$14.51, as shares in its suitor Wesfarmers rose 41 cents to A$38.99.
Upmarket retailer David Jones were 14 cents higher to A$5.75 and supermarket giant Woolworths gained 29 cents at A$27.29.
Among the telcos, Telstra nudged up one cent to A$4.60, while Optus-owner Singapore Telecommunications lost two cents to A$2.66.
The top-traded stock by volume was health services provider IM Medical, with 175.13 million shares worth A$8.71 million changing hands. Its shares were up one cent to 5.4 cents.
National turnover was 1.98 billion shares worth A$6.42 billion, with 826 stocks up, 474 down and 331 unchanged.
- AAP