Buyers jump back into sharemarket

Investors piled back into the sharemarket yesterday, helping stocks - led by the heavyweight resource companies and the banks - to recoup most of the previous day's losses.
After weak sentiment in the United States cast a pall over the local bourse on Wednesday, the ASX 200 index recovered yesterday to close up 53.2 points, or more than 1 per cent, at 4903.8. The broader All Ordinaries index gained 50.6 points to close at 4864.4.
The head of trading at Shaw Stockbroking, Jamie Spiteri, said the broad rally in the market had been driven by a rebound on Wall Street overnight. Australian resource stocks and banks had brought influence to bear.
"These recoveries in our market illustrate how much cash is out there waiting for the weak days or weaker prices," he said.
Retailing stocks benefited from consumer spending figures released yesterday that showed a hint of a long-awaited rebound in the sector. Retail turnover rose by 0.8 per cent in January to a seasonally adjusted $17.46 billion, the largest increase in eight months.
David Jones gained 3c to $2.88 and Harvey Norman rose 6c to $3.44 as spending on discretionary items kept rising in January. Woolworths rose 35c to $18.70 and Coles Myer gained 20c to $9.86.
Engineering company WorleyParsons delighted investors again as its share price rose for the third consecutive day - up 89c to $17.19 - after the company posted an exceptional first-half profit on Tuesday.
Analysts believe the stock is the standout of the reporting season because of its profit result and the market's reaction: the stock has gained more than 25 per cent in three days.
Among the heavyweight resource stocks, Rio Tinto rose 25c to $70.50 and BHP Billiton gained 42c to $24.45.
In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum rose 49c to $41.09 on a rise in the price of oil; Santos gained 2c to $11.36.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank rose 56c to $44.27; National Australia Bank gained 42c to $36.35; Westpac was up 5c to $23.25 and ANZ rose by 33c to $25.68.
Macquarie Bank continued to suffer from concerns about the sustainability of its business model in collecting fees from its specialist funds. Its stock was unchanged at $61.65.
A private client adviser with Macquarie Equities, David Halliday, said investors had turned their attention to retail stocks because of data showing a slight recovery in sentiment in the sector, as well as talk by the Federal Government of tax cuts.
"If tax cuts do follow through, a part of that tax cut ends up back in the retail sector in one form or another," Mr Halliday said, "[but] it's still tough out there for retailers. The data for the month is better than expected but it's coming off a low base."
As the company reporting season winds up, Mr Halliday said the ASX 200 was likely to consolidate at about 4900 in the absence of a plethora of stock-specific news.
UBS analysts believe resource and banking stocks will continue to determine the overall fate of the market.