Miners push bourse over the top again

The sharemarket closed at record highs yesterday with the big miners leading the way.
The ASX 200 index rose 24.5 points to a close of 5115, taking its gain this year to 7.4 per cent.
The All Ordinaries surged 22.2 points to a record 5071.6.
ABN Amro Morgan adviser Trent Muller said the top mining stocks had led the market higher after the copper price hit record highs on the London Metal Exchange and in New York overnight.
"The market has been mostly driven by the big resource stocks and also by the rally overseas."
The Dow Jones index rose 61.16 points to 11,215.70 on Wednesday.
BHP Billiton rose 70c to $27.60 and Rio Tinto $1.31 to $77.96.
"These are the strongest global conditions for metals since the 1960s," said Hans Kunnen of Colonial First State.
"There's room for the miners' earnings to grow more than the market currently expects."
National Australia Bank fell 3c to $37.74 and Westpac climbed 15c to $23.78.
ANZ rose 32c to $26.48 after receiving a $98 million insurance settlement from a long-running dispute with India's National Housing Bank.
Commonwealth Bank rose 10c to $45.50 after announcing it expected to achieve earnings per share growth above the market trend in the next three years as it moved to win back business banking customers.
There was profit taking in the speculative uranium stocks that have been running hot this week.
Toro Energy fell 28c to $1.05, Encounter Resources 11c to 64c and Pepinnini Minerals 7.5c to 43.5c.
Qantas fell 5c to $3.60 and Air New Zealand rose 4c to $1.16 in the wake of speculation the two airlines plan to merge their trans-Tasman operations.
Oil and gas producer Santos rose 7c to $11.07 after the company reaffirmed its production targets and Woodside Petroleum fell 80c to $44.17 as it shut rigs off the coast of Western Australia in preparation for Cyclone Glenda.
Orica rose 8c to $23.30 after the explosives maker said it expected to complete the transfer of the businesses it is acquiring from Dyno Nobel by mid-year.
Telstra bounced back after hitting an all-time low earlier this week, rising 11c to $3.74.
The telco was the top traded stock by volume with 86.77 million shares worth $321.78 million changing hands.
In retail, Woolworths fell 22c to $18.83 and Coles Myer rose 2c to $10.58.
IAG rose 4c to $5.47. The insurer completed a tender offer for shares in Thailand's Safety Insurance Public Co.
Ten Network fell 1c to $2.93. Analysts cut their forecasts for the television network's earnings after a disappointing first-half profit result.
Gold stocks were mixed. Newcrest fell 10c to $22.29 and Lihir Gold rose 4c to $2.50.
Perth goldminer A1 Minerals rose 4c or 17 per cent to 28c, its biggest one-day gain since September 2004.
The company has announced it has found indications of uranium at its Narnoo project south-east of Laverton in Western Australia.