End of break, so back to the highs

The Australian sharemarket came roaring back after the Christmas break to clock up a another record performance.
The market was led higher by the banks and goldminers and a late rally in resources, which converted losses into gains by the end of trading.
The ASX200 closed up 27.9 points at 4755.6 while the All Ordinaries rose 26.5 to 4697.3.
The indices surpassed the previous record closes set on December 23 and marked new intra-day highs of 4759.9 for the ASX200 and 4700.6 for the All Ords.
But investors were mostly focused on the performance of Publishing & Broadcasting, following the death of media magnate Kerry Packer on Monday.
His son James, 38, will now take control of the media and gambling empire and cement his role as executive chairman which he had held since 1998.
The stock lost ground but not as much as had been feared and closed down 26c or 1.25 per cent to $16.40. It was the second highest stock traded by value - $79.76 million worth of shares went through the market.
"This is an absolute vote of confidence by the market in James' ability to run the ship," said Macquarie Equities private client adviser David Halliday.
News Corp gained 9c to $22.82 and its non voting scrip firmed 1c to $21.48. Fairfax improved 9c to $4.03.
In the banks, the Commonwealth led the way with a 39c jump to $42.81 with the National rising 29c to $32.50. ANZ picked up 6c to $24.21 while Westpac rose 22c to $23.00.
BHP Billiton firmed 1c to $22.59 while oil and gas producer Woodside recovered from a low of $37.91 to close 29c richer at $38.59. But Rio Tinto lost 25c to $68.25, Oil Search lost 2c to $3.58 and Santos also lost 2c to $11.92.
Gold stocks rallied as the metal's price again pushed over $US505 an ounce, with Newcrest jumping 80c to a record $24.00.
Mr Halliday said the expected success of Canadian goldminer Barrick's takeover bid for Placer Dome had put a rocket under the gold price and made Newcrest look like a cheap potential target.
Lihir Gold put on 5c to $2.19, Newmont strengthened 9c to $7.17 and AngloGold Ashanti was up 1c at $13.21.
The gold price rose $US5.625 to $US509.75 per ounce from Friday's close.
In retail, Woolworths slipped 1c to $16.87, Coles Myer climbed 4c to $10.20 and David Jones weakened 1c to $2.33. G Retail lost 0.5c to a new low of 6c.
Packaging group Amcor, which said it was selling its two China tobacco packaging operations to Vision Grande of Hong Kong, advanced 6c to $7.43.
Telstra rose 2c to $3.96 while Optus parent SingTel dipped 1c to $2.15.
The top traded stock by volume was Melbourne internet invoicing service Oriel Communications, with 17.37 million shares traded for a total value of $281,087. The stock lost 0.1c to close at 1.6c.
National turnover was 469.69 million shares, worth a total of $1.49 billion, and 557 stocks rose, 337 fell and 329 were unchanged.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract edged up 23 points to 4763.