Record remains elusive as market rallies

After a sluggish week, the sharemarket bounced back on Friday on a strong US lead and rising commodity prices.
The ASX 200 benchmark jumped to 4623.5, up 43.4 points, on Friday but down 25.3 on the week, and the All Ordinaries surged 41.5 points to 4573.8, but was down 18.7 over the week.
The indices inched up towards the September 29 record high during Wednesday, but pulled back in a sell-off that continued through Thursday.
"We have been flirting with the record highs but we couldn't make any commitment," said market strategist Eric Betts from Nomura Australia.
David Land of CMC Markets said resistance to breaking the record had been consistent for two months.
"We haven't had the right combination of things to push through the record high," Mr Land said.
The week was dominated by news from the resources sector, and the major banks continued to have a heavy impact on the direction of the market.
"It has been so much based on commodities," Mr Land said. "That has been the focus for trades for much of the week. And while the banks have been performing okay, it makes it hard for the market to drive ahead without consistent support from the big banks."
The banks had a volatile week. ANZ had the strongest bounce, adding 30c on Friday to $23.81, up 1c over the week.
Record gold prices triggered Rio Tinto's selldown of its 15 per cent stake in Lihir Gold, in which the share price recovered 4c on Friday to close at $2.12, down 1c in the week. The shake-up continued on Thursday when Woodside Petroleum sold off its 10 per cent stake in Hardman Resources.
Commodity prices and the US markets were likely to dominate the market in the next few weeks, Mr Betts said. "I think we will be externally driven rather than by domestic factors because people tend to wind up before Christmas."
AMP Capital Investors head of investment strategy and chief economist, Shane Oliver, forecast a positive month ahead. "Despite the flat trend over the last couple of weeks, Australian shares are on track for further gains into the New Year," he said. "[They] remain good value thanks to strong profits and still low bond yields."
Continued growth in China and the lower returns of investment in housing were also supporting the sharemarket.
"But on the back of rising interest rates globally and a deceleration in local profit growth towards more sustainable levels we have entered a more constrained and volatile period for the Australian sharemarket," Dr Oliver said.
Standard & Poor's Index Services announced Tattersall's will replace Lion Selection Group on the ASX 200 index from December 16.