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MELBOURNE - Australian stocks have managed to close in positive territory, bucking a lower close and a lacklustre day's trade to post a new closing high.
At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 6.8 points higher at 6158.2, up from the previous closing high of 6153 set earlier this week.
The all ordinaries also added 6.7 points to a new record of 6142.8, up from 6136.1.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the June share price index contract was four points better at 6195, on a volume of 13,623 contracts.
"After a bit of a lacklustre start to the day, with a negative lead from offshore ... we've actually through the day seen a bit of weight of money come back in and push us back into positive territory, only just, holding our recent run of gains in the market," Macquarie equities adviser Helen Spencer said.
"It's a little bit of a mixed bag really overall and fairly directionless, but just still hanging on to the recent gains in the market."
Ms Spencer said the weight of money had come into the market with a "plethora of dividends and cash" being released to shareholders in the past few weeks.
"We're still certainly seeing a lot of extra cash entering the market and helping support it, and holding on to these gains of late, without any real significant catalyst on positive news other than interest rates being on hold for now, but that risk is still hanging over the market," she said,
"We do have reporting season kicking in, in the US and there will be a bit of caution around that ... and that could certainly keep our market fairly jittery and volatile in the next few weeks."
In the heavyweight resources sector, BHP Billiton closed down 37 cents at A$30.23 but rival Rio Tinto added 27 cents to A$83.77.
Energy interests made gains, Woodside Petroleum was up 27 cents at A$39.15 and Santos climbed 34 cents to A$10.60.
At 1626 AEST the price of gold in Sydney was up 70 US cents at US$677.85 per fine ounce.
But miners of the precious metal were mixed, Lihir Gold shedding three cents to A$3.26 and Newcrest Mining 22 cents higher at A$23.95.
On the local bourse's other key sector banking, Commonwealth improved 40 cents to A$51.60, NAB swelled seven cents to A$42.30 and ANZ lifted three cents to A$30.18, but Westpac dropped six cents to A$26.29.
Retailers were also mostly higher, Australia's biggest Woolworths gaining 13 cents to A$27.94 and Coles firming 10 cents to A$17.48, but David Jones reversed two cents to A$4.66.
The market's higher close came despite a lower lead from the US overnight, with Wall Street taking a tumble as minutes from last month's Federal Reserve meeting hinted at the need for more interest rate rises, adding to worries about surging petrol prices and the weak housing market.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.23 points to 12,484.62, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 9.52 points to 1,438.87, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 18.30 points to 2,459.31.
Media stocks were showing no clear direction, with PBL adding eight cents to A$19.90, Fairfax staying steady at A$5.03 but News Corp dropped six cents to A$30.30 and its non-voting stock slumped nine cents to A$28.35.
National carrier Qantas advanced eight cents to A$5.39, while telecommunications giant Telstra also rose seven cents to A$4.88.
The most traded stock of the day by volume was Chrome Corporation, which is focused on the Ruighoek chrome project in South Africa, with 119.06 million shares worth A$601,974 changing hands.
Chrome Corp ended steady at half a cent.
The second-most traded stock was beverages company Foster's Group, which had 50.37 million shares worth A$335.78 million change hands, while its stock closed four cents higher at A$6.74.
Preliminary market turnover was 1.78 billion shares worth A$5.85 billion, with 658 companies ending higher, 598 lower and 319 unchanged.
- AAP