Late resources rally propels market higher

The sharemarket closed higher after the resources sector rallied late in the day in response to soaring commodity prices.
The ASX 200 rose 12.3 points to 5364.5 and the All Ordinaries 12.9 points to 5318.2.
Fat Prophets director of funds management Angus Geddes said strong gains in the prices of base metals, gold and oil were behind the resources rally, which reached its peak in the last hour of trade.
"I think people were looking ahead to trading tonight in London and New York and there is just a view that the positive tone of resource stocks is going to continue around the world," he said.
BHP Billiton closed up 65c at an all-time high of $32 and Rio Tinto surged $1.40 to $87.15.
NAB was the best performer among the big banks, rising 46c to $37.26 after posting a first-half net profit of $1.99 billion.
Chief executive John Stewart said the bank would not rule out making acquisitions in Britain.
Westpac dived 30c to $24.45, ANZ fell 7c to $28.38 and the Commonwealth was down 15c to $46.11.
News Corp surged 74c to $25.06 and the non-voting stock climbed 65c to $23.70 after the media group doubled its third-quarter profit.
Transport group Toll Holdings rallied 41c to $15.41 after finally succeeding in taking over stevedore Patrick Corp, which climbed 22c to $9.12.
Oil and gas stocks were mixed. Santos climbed 9c to $12.22, while Woodside Petroleum slipped 23c to $47.57 after the Australian Federal Police confirmed it was investigating allegations the company offered bribes in Mauritania.
Building materials maker Rinker sank 33c to $21.07 despite forecasting another strong year of revenue and profit growth and handing back $819 million to shareholders.
Agricultural and industrial company Futuris Corp eased 1c to $2.22 after announcing it wanted to increase its stake in hardwood plantation manager Integrated Tree Cropping.
Iluka Resources fell 1c to $7.43. The mineral sands producer has maintained its guidance of a net profit for its continuing business of $115 million to $125 million for the full year.
Financial services group Praemium debuted on the stock exchange at a 37.5 per cent premium. Shares in the company began trading at 55c, 15c up on the issue price of 40c, and closed at 49c.
The big retailers were lower. Woolworths fell 12c to $18.80 and Coles Myer 6c to $10.87.
In the gold sector, Newcrest Mining rose 59c to $24.64 and Newmont added 10c to $7.59.
Lihir Gold fell 3c to $3.57 and Kingsgate Consolidated dipped 10c to $5.70.
Telstra fell 1c to $3.79.
The top traded stock by volume was mining investor Imperial One with 82.45 million shares worth $2.79 million changing hands as the share price rose 0.3c to 3.5c.