Locals shake off US slide, go for late run

The sharemarket closed in record territory yesterday, despite slumping in opening trade after a weak lead from the US.
The ASX 200 rose 4.7 points to a new closing record of 5090.5 while the All Ordinaries rose 4.6 to 5049.4, also a closing record.
"The market managed to stage a late rally this afternoon, after opening in negative territory on the back of negative offshore leads, with the US down quite heavily overnight," said Macquarie Equities adviser Helen Spencer.
In the US stocks fell sharply after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates for a 15th consecutive time to 4.75 per cent and suggested that more may be in the pipeline. The Dow Jones index fell 95.57 to 11,154.54.
Locally, BHP Billiton rose 5c to $26.90 while Rio Tinto shed 48c to $76.65.
NAB rallied 17c to $37.77, the Commonwealth rose 8c to $45.40 and ANZ 7c to $26.16 while Westpac shed 12c to $23.63.
AGL said it was working with the competition watchdog to gain clearance for its proposed merger with West Australian utility Alinta. AGL rose 8c to $18.65 and Alinta was steady at $11.
Steam distilled water supplier Refresh Group made a sparkling debut on the stock exchange and is already targeting Kalgoorlie's thirsty miners. Refresh shares, issued at 20c, hit the ASX board at 25c before closing at 35c.
Ten Network fell 11c to $2.94 after posting a 21.8 per cent fall in first-half net profit to $42.87 million and saying its annual profit would not match last year's.
Telstra was steady at $3.63 while Optus parent Singapore Telecom rose 1c to $2.31.
Coalminer New Hope fell 4c to $1.37 after reporting a 4.2 per cent fall in interim net profit.
Goldminers rose, with Newcrest up 7c to $22.39, Newmont 2c firmer at $7.15 and Lihir steady at $2.46.
Shares in junior uranium explorer Redport surged 3.5c or nearly 32 per cent to 14.5c after the company said it would soon begin exploring near the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.