Resources prop up volatile bourse

The sharemarket closed slightly higher after a bumpy day of trading yesterday in which resources stocks performed strongly while the banking sector softened.
The benchmark ASX 200 closed 1.1 points higher at 4624.6 while the All Ordinaries rose 3 to 4576.8.
ABN Amro private client adviser Bill Bishop said the market was consolidating after a promising run in recent weeks.
"The banks mostly went down … [and] Telstra is weighing pretty heavily on the market," Mr Bishop said. "Resources did all right, they kept things together."
Rio Tinto closed $1.41 higher at $63.33 and BHP Billiton rose 8c to $22.03 after copper prices rose to record levels in London.
BHP Billiton yesterday said that damage caused by hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year could dent profits and result in the write-off of its Typhoon oil and gas platform.
Goldminers were mixed as the gold price powered ahead. Newcrest jumped 30c to $21.45, Lihir Gold was steady at $2.12 but Newmont fell 12c to $6.30.
In the oils, Woodside gained 30c to $35.90, Oil Search 9c to $3.63 and Hardman Resources was up 1c at $1.84.
Banks were mixed with CBA up 22c to $41.47, while Westpac slid 2c to $22.10, NAB lost 8c to $32 and ANZ fell 15c to $23.66.
"Banks have had a very good run over the last quarter," said Charlie Lanchester at Perpetual Investments in Sydney. Compared to other banks around the world, "they're starting to look relatively expensive".
Banking stocks have climbed 13 per cent this year and 4.8 per cent in the past three months, making them the fourth-best performing sector of the 10 groups in the benchmark index.
Shares in Flight Centre dived $1.23 to $9.06 after Qantas said it would reduce travel agent base commissions for tickets sold from April next year.
Qantas fell 1c to $3.75.
Multiplex, up 3c to $3.36, has won a $389 million contract to build an 86-storey office tower in the United Arab Emirates.
Telstra fell 8c to $3.86, recording the biggest points move on the index, amid investor concern its management's strategy will fail to boost returns.
"Sentiment amongst institutional investors is very poor," Mr Lanchester said of the stock.
PBL dipped 15c to $16.46, Seven Network shed 4c to $8.20, Ten Network was down 6c to $3.26, while John Fairfax was steady at $3.89.
Sigma fell 24c to $13.54 and Patrick fell 31c to $7.13 after trading ex-divided yesterday.
In retail, Coles Myer rose 7c to $10, Harvey Norman added 1c to $2.94 and David Jones was up 2c to $2.42 while Woolworths slipped 21c to $16.84.
Lion Nathan rose 5c to $7.50 after the competition regulator said it would not oppose the liquor company's takeover bid for Coopers Brewery.
Shares in biotech Anadis lifted 3c to 44c after the biopharmaceutical developer released results showing an antibody in cows' milk neutralised potentially deadly anthrax in human cells.
Transurban rose 18c to $6.83. Its Westlink M7 tollway in Sydney, in which Transurban has a 40 per cent stake, is to open eight months ahead of schedule.
Uranium hopeful Deep Yellow was the most traded by volume, closing up 2½c at 10½c on volume of 46 million shares.