Miners fight back, push shares higher

Miners fight back, push shares higher

The sharemarket closed stronger yesterday thanks to a solid performance from the big resource houses and a positive guide from Wall Street.
ABN Amro Morgan client adviser Margaret Morrissey said higher copper prices overnight sparked the bounce in miners like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.
The ASX 200 closed 34 points higher at 4459.3 while the All Ordinaries grew 32.6 to 4422.5.
At end of day trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index lifted 33 points to 4459 on a volume of 16,505 contracts.
BHP Billiton jumped 70c to $20.75, Rio Tinto gained $1.95 to $57.90 and oil and gas producer Woodside improved 80c to $32.40.
The banking sector was mixed with ANZ firming 3c to $23.50, National Australia Bank put on 13c to $32.36 and the Commonwealth rose 33c to $38.08.
Westpac bucked the trend, losing 15c to $20.56.
Macquarie Bank more than made up for yesterday's losses, advancing $3.17, or 5 per cent, to $65.92.

"Macquarie got a bit of a fright yesterday with a rumour going around they might be looking at a British beverage group," Ms Morrissey said.
"People thought they might be overstretching themselves but the worry has disappeared today because Macquarie have gone gangbusters."
Shares in Patrick gained 10c to $6.62 after it said the hostile bid from Pacific National partner Toll Holdings was inadequate.
Toll shares also went higher, rising 27c to $12.40.
"It looks like Toll will have to come back with a higher bid," said Ms Morrissey.
In retail, punters have piled into Woolworths, pushing it 26c higher to $15.66 on the prospect of a strong first quarter sales result due tomorrow.
"We've forecast first quarter sales could be as high as 12.3 per cent," Ms Morrissey said.
Coles Myer was left unchanged at $9.74 while David Jones rose 4c to $2.30.
News Corp firmed 10c to $20.92 and its non-voting scrip grew 15c to $19.94.
After the market closed, Australian subsidiary News Ltd said it was increasing its cash offer for website realestate.com.au from $2 to $2.50 per share, stressing it was the final offer.
Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd reversed 25c to $16.31 while Fairfax was 9c stronger at $4.28.
Telstra lost 5c to $4.13 and Optus parent Singapore Telecommunications eased 1.5c to $1.915.
The price of gold in Sydney was $US473.925 per ounce which was $US2.125 above Monday's close.
Gold miner Newmont lifted 15c to $6.12 and Newcrest dropped 6c to $20.18. Lihir weakened half a cent to $1.76.