Buyers make a late run for bargains

The sharemarket bounced back in late trading as bargain hunters emerged after four straight days of uninspiring trading.
Trading was solid across the board, with resources stocks staging a recovery after losing ground earlier in the week.
The ASX 200 was up 21.4 points at 4894.4 while the All Ordinaries rose 19.7 to 4855.4.
Aequs Securities institutional dealer Ric Klusman said the market was higher on natural buying, especially among institutional investors.
"Investors are seeing US futures up, the Aussie dollar a bit cheaper and gold go down over the past few days and they're thinking there might be a few good buying opportunities around," he said. "There's also a fair bit of cash around for the end of February period."
In the US on Wednesday, blue-chip stocks rose as investors stocked up on shares in consumer staples in response to rising interest rates.
The Dow Jones index rose 25.05 points to 11,005.74 and the broader S&P 500 rose 2.59 points to 1278.47.
Locally, market leader BHP Billiton gained 10c to $23.70 whereas Rio Tinto improved 70c to $68.65.
The big banks were broadly higher. Westpac firmed 34c to $23.43, ANZ rose 20c to $26.01 and NAB added 10c to $36.90. Bucking the trend was Commonwealth Bank, down 5c to $43.65.
Investment bank Macquarie Bank rose 2.6 per cent, or $1.55, to $60.35.
Insurer QBE jumped 3 per cent, up 66c to $21.60 while IAG improved 2 per cent, finding 12c to $5.13.
Among media stocks, PBL rose 6c to $17.53 but publisher John Fairfax shrank 7c to $3.92.
Qantas added 3c to $3.97. The national carrier will cut 480 jobs after reviewing its engineering operations and deciding to close its heavy maintenance B747 operations in Sydney in May.
Troubled wheat exporter AWB was holding firm at $3.83.
BHP's former boss, John Prescott, yesterday told the Cole inquiry he had major doubts about the resources group sending wheat to Iraq in the 1990s.
Telstra was steady at $3.83 but Optus owner Singapore Telecom rose 3c to $2.33.
Shares in Globe International rose 1.5c to 34c. The surf and skate wear company said it was on track to achieve an annual $10 million profit despite posting a $740,000 loss for the first half.
Meanwhile, iiNet announced a $15 million investment in its new broadband internet network, increasing its coverage to 90 per cent of metropolitan Australia. The shares rose 4.5c to $1.31.
Spot gold was trading at $US545 an ounce, down $US6.875 on Wednesday's close.
However, gold stocks were slightly firmer. Newcrest rose 14c to $20.50, Newmont 1c to $6.83 and Lihir 2c to $2.22.
Troy Resources rose 3c to $2.90. The goldminer said it was on track for a successful year after posting a record half-year net profit of $10.5 million, up 28 per cent on last time.
The top traded stock by volume was toll road operator Macquarie Infrastructure Group, with 47.97 million shares changing hands for $177.33 million. It rose 7c to $3.71.