Banks, miners lead rally to record close

The sharemarket hit fresh highs yesterday as it continued its end of year run in defiance of a weak overseas lead.
Macquarie Equities private client adviser David Halliday said the market had been buoyed by the same stocks that had been setting the pace all year.
"The resources and material stocks, led by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, are performing very well and, particularly in the last two or three weeks, we have seen outstanding performances from the banks," he said.
The ASX 200 closed up 16.8 points at 4672.2, beating the previous record closing high of 4671.7 set on September 29. The All Ordinaries was up 15.9 to 4616.7, just short of the record closing high of 4617.4, also set on September 29.
Telstra made up some ground as the Treasurer, Peter Costello, met the head of the competition watchdog to discuss its battle over the telecom's charges.
Mr Halliday said speculation the Government could be moving to back Telstra on regulatory issues had helped the stock climb 6c to $3.88.
The big mining stocks continued to shine despite a dip in base metal prices overnight, with Rio Tinto shooting up $1.69 to a fresh closing high of $65.50.
BHP Billiton rallied 23c at $22.10 after announcing it had given the go-ahead for the expansion of the Alumar alumina refinery in Brazil.
ANZ added 31c to $23.91, the Commonwealth climbed 27c to $41.88 and National Australia Bank was up 17c at $32.13. Westpac slipped 9c to $22.61 after posting strong gains on Monday.
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries dropped 11c to $2.95 despite posting a small increase in its interim profit and reporting a good start to the busy Christmas sales period.
Builder and property developer Multiplex Group rose 2c to $3.18 despite analysts cutting profit forecasts on concerns about its Wembley Stadium reconstruction project.
In retail, Coles Myer fell 5c to $10.03 while Woolworths was down 7c to $16.58.
Qantas rose 9c to $4 after Standard & Poor's affirmed the airline's credit rating and said its outlook remained stable.
Cancer diagnostic developer BioPharmica soared 11.5c or 177 per cent to 18c after it said its proposed lung disease test had shown outstanding accuracy and had the potential to affect treatment of the condition.
Lihir Gold rose 4c to $2.15.