KEY POINTS:
MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed in positive territory today, underpinned by strong gains from resources giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 37.6 points at 6393.7, while the All Ordinaries gained 38.9 points to 6400.9.
At 1615 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 48 points higher at 6436, on a volume of 15,251 contracts.
CMC Markets dealer Matthew Lewis said solid gains from base metal prices overnight underpinned a positive performance from the materials sector.
"The key driver today was the materials stocks, we saw surging base metal prices overnight ... (and) this has flowed on to our big metals and mining stocks like Rio and BHP," Mr Lewis said.
"They have really been the key drivers in the market today.
"I think we're also still seeing a positive flow on affect from the Federal Reserve rate cut a couple of nights ago and we're pretty close to the all time record again."
The market got off to a strong start following a positive lead from the US overnight.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 76.17 points to 13,815.56, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index picked up 9.25 points to 1,529.03 and the Nasdaq rose 14.82 points to 2,666.48.
Locally, the big miners were stronger, with BHP Billiton adding 57 cents to A$41.01 and rival Rio Tinto gaining 91 cents to A$102.70.
The banking sector was mixed, with the Commonwealth Bank adding three cents to A$55.90, ANZ dipping 15 cents to A$28.42, the National Australia Bank losing 21 cents to A$37.99 and Westpac shedding four cents to A$27.41.
AMP picked up 19 cents to A$10.45 after the company appointed the head of its superannuation business, Craig Dunn, as its new chief executive to replace Andrew Mohl from the end of the year.
Sigma Pharmaceuticals lost four cents to A$1.435 after the drugs manufacturer and pharmacy services provider again downgraded its expectation of annual underlying net profit, as greater competition in the generic drugs market eats into margins.
OneSteel was steady at A$6.71 after the company announced it would invest over A$20 million at two Newcastle plants to meet growing demand for rail wheels and wire rope.
The media sector was stronger, with News Corp adding 30 cents to A$26.90, its non-voting shares picking up 20 cents to A$25.25, Fairfax lifting six cents to A$4.53 and PBL rising 31 cents to A$18.75.
The retailers were stronger, with Woolworths gaining six cents to A$29.95, Coles picking up 20 cents to A$15.20, Harvey Norman adding 14 cents to A$5.99 and David Jones finding three cents to A$5.05.
The energy sector was stronger, with Woodside surging A$1.02 to A$48.37, Santos adding 48 cents to A$14.68 and Oil Search picking up four cents to A$4.38.
SP AusNet lost five cents to A$1.34 after it flagged the A$8.14 billion acquisition of a suite of ex-Alinta assets from parent Singapore Power International.
The spot gold price was slightly lower and at 1622 AEST was trading at US$723.30 an ounce, down US60 cents an ounce from yesterday's local close.
The gold miners were mixed, with Newcrest adding 74 cents to A$28.80, Newmont picking up five cents to A$5.47 and Lihir steady at A$3.79.
Telstra was the most traded stock on the market today, with 67.98 million shares changing hands, collectively worth A$298.35 million.
The telco's shares added one cent to A$4.40.
Preliminary market turnover reached 2.53 billion, worth a total value of A$13.55 billion, with 620 stocks moving up, 584 moving down and 369 unchanged.
- AAP