Banks do their bit for bourse record

The Australian sharemarket closed at a fresh high yesterday, pushed upwards by most of the big banks and strong performances from Telstra, aluminium smelter Alumina and beverages firm Foster's.
ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Simon Ferguson said investors who had recently taken profits from the resources sector were switching their money to the banking sector.
"The market's pretty solid," Mr Ferguson said.
"The direction for the next month really depends upon what the profit reporting season delivers. Companies will have to hit their targets to hold their price."
The benchmark ASX 200 index rose 27.1 points to 4956.7, surpassing the previous record of 4943.4 set on Monday.
The All Ordinaries rose 23.7 points to 4903.9, beating the prior closing high of 4892.2 also set on Monday.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones fell 35.06 points to 10,864.86 after the US Federal Reserve bumped up interest rates.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract rose 13 points to 4937 on a volume of 16,046.
In the banking sector, NAB rose 67c to $34.55, ANZ 29c to $25.19 and Westpac 32c to $23.59. Commonwealth Bank fell 15c to $44.50.
Shares in investment bank Macquarie Bank fell $4.93, or 7.21 per cent, to $63.45 after it predicted its annual result would be only "slightly up" on the record $823 million profit booked last year. Mr Ferguson said Macquarie was not performing as the market hoped.
In resources, BHP Billiton rose 19c to $25.99 and Rio Tinto fell 61c to $75.21.
Rio Tinto's uranium vehicle, Energy Resources Australia, fell 35c to $13.90 despite boosting its annual net profit after a year of record production.
Alumina rose 23c to $7.74 after announcing aluminium prices would keep rising in 2006, although soaring costs are expected to continue to affect profits.
Oil and gas producer Woodside rose 77c to $45.99 and Santos 37c to $13.47.
Telstra rose 12c to $4.10 amid comments that the Federal Government might offload some of its stake in the telco through instalment receipts that could reap shareholders a yield of as much as 14 per cent.
Among media stocks, News Corp fell 19c to $21.94 and its non-voting stock 16c to $20.75.
Publishing & Broadcasting slipped 4c to $16.54 and John Fairfax firmed 4c to $4.28.
In the gold sector, Newmont eased 2c to $8.17, Newcrest jumped 50c to $26.70 and Lihir shed 1c to $2.41.
The price of gold in Sydney was $US569.45 per fine ounce, up US70c on Tuesday's close.
Retailer Coles Myer fell 2c to $10.43 and supermarket rival Woolworths rose 1c to $17.26.
Global beverages company Foster's gained 16c to $5.43 as it confirmed its earnings guidance for 2005-06.
The top traded stock by volume was junior miner and explorer Extract Resources, with 112.07 million shares worth $9.02 million changing hands.
Extract shares were 1.7c higher at 8.5c.
National turnover was 1.52 billion shares worth $4.48 billion.