Telstra shines in day of recovery

The sharemarket moved up strongly, with many stocks recovering ground lost on Wednesday.
The commodity sell-off slowed while Telstra proved one of the day's main positives, reporting results in line with its guidance.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 46.2 points higher at 4877.6.
Joseph Palmer & Sons' manager of private client services, Allan Furlong, said investors were nervous.
"The market spiked very, very early in the piece," Mr Furlong said. "There is a lot of volatility and the market is reacting to news."
The initial surge reflected a strong lead from Wall Street, where stocks rose on the back of impressive earnings from Cisco.
The big news on the local market was Telstra, which put on 5¢ to $4.0 after reporting a first-half net profit of $2.14 billion, down from $2.39 billion previously. Mr Furlong said the market has largely anticipated the result.
Among the big miners, BHP Billiton rose 31¢ to $24.68 while Rio Tinto finished 2¢ better at $72.77.
Energy stocks pushed higher, with Woodside gaining 57¢ to $41.92, Oil Search rising 14¢ to $3.61 and Santos up 14¢ at $12.64.
The banking sector lacked direction, with the big four ending the day mixed. National Australia Bank shifted 2¢ lower to $34.98, Westpac gained 24¢ to $23.59, ANZ picked up 17¢ to $24.95 and Commonwealth retreated 5¢ to $43.58.
Macquarie Bank surged 85¢ to $63.49 and St George rose 34¢ to $29.90.
News Corp posted a lower first-half net profit of $US642 million ($A868.74 million), well below the previous corresponding period's $US1.01 billion ($A1.37 billion), weighed down by an accounting change. The non-voting shares gained 16¢ to $21.35 and the voting scrip moved up 15¢ to $22.56.
Other media stocks were mixed, with Fairfax up 8¢ at $4.07 and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd dropping 4¢ to $15.87.
Shares in beverage company Coca-Cola Amatil dropped 57¢ to $7.03 despite the company announcing a 15.9 per cent
lift in annual net profit to $320.5 million.
Retail stocks were stronger, with Woolworths up 23¢ at $17.38, Coles Myer gaining 13¢ to $10.33 and Harvey Norman putting on 8¢ to $3.21.
The spot price of gold rebounded partially from Wednesday's sudden plunge, gaining $US8 to close at $558.05 an ounce. The gold miners responded, with Newcrest climbing 73¢ to $25.90, Newmont gaining 17¢ to $7.73 and Lihir skipping up 7¢ to $2.24.
Extract Resources was the most traded stock, with 71.2 million shares changing hands, worth a total of $7.22 million. The shares shifted 0.1¢ higher to 9.7¢.