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Bargain hunters nudged the Australian share market into positive territory, supported by resources and oil stocks, following firmer commodity prices and a strong rally on Wall Street.
At 1615 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 30.7 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 3,526.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index had gained 26.2 points, or 0.76 per cent, to 3,461.3.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was up 21 points at 3,489 on a volume of 20,008 contracts.
A 2.46 per cent rise on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York overnight to 8375.45 encouraged bargain hunters into the local market on Thursday, EL & C Bailieu director of equities Richard Morrow said.
"Overall, people are extremely cautious. But there is definitely bargain hunting out there and a bit more interest around the shop," he said.
Foreign investors pushed shares in BHP Billiton 80 cents, or 2.68 per cent, higher to A$30.65, Mr Morrow said.
"There's a lot of demand for BHP today. There appeared to be a lot of overseas money recognising that BHP is probably the best place to have one's funds of the major mining companies."
"The only thing that took the edge off it was talk of capital raisings by Xstrata and Rio Tinto."
Rio Tinto lost 24 cents, or 0.59 per cent, to A$40.71.
Second tier oil companies enjoyed strong gains on the back of better than expected US petrol demand, while top tier oil companies were marginally higher.
"There was a surprising amount of strength in the second line of the oil sector," Mr Morrow said.
"Oil held up much better than most people expected - in this low 40s area (US dollars a barrel) - and there's been a bit more demand than expected in the US for petrol and that prompted a bit of bargain hunting among the second-line oils."
Australian Worldwide Exploration jumped 17 cents, or 6.88 per cent, to A$2.64, while Nexus Energy surged 2.5 cents to 44 cents.
Oil Search firmed one cent to A$4.30, Santos put on six cents to A$14.15 and Woodside Petroleum advanced six cents to A$34.59.
- AAP