Stocks down on talk of peace but come good later

The sharemarket closed higher as strong company results helped the market recover from a weak start.
The market opened lower due to lower metal prices and weak leads out of the US but finished in positive territory.
The ASX 200 rose 22.1 points to 4971.3 while the All Ordinaries was up 20.6 at 4938.6.
"We started down following those offshore leads and as the hope of a peace deal and a ceasefire in the Middle East started to break but since then the market has gained confidence," Macquarie Equities client adviser David Halliday said.
"We've also seen a couple of companies report and the earnings have been above the market expectations generally."
Big miners closed mixed: Rio Tinto fell 60c to $72.05 and BHP Billiton added 24c to $27.19.
A lower oil price left energy companies in the lurch. Woodside fell 28c to $41.42, Oil Search was steady at $3.90, Santos grew 6c to $11.48 and Beach was down a ha'penny at $1.62.
In banking, ANZ rose 17c to $26.55, NAB 32c to $36.52, Westpac 13c to $22.67, St George 32c to $29.52 and Macquarie Bank 78c to $60.40.
The Commonwealth went ex-dividend and fell $1.18 to $44.57.
Bendigo Bank forecast continued earnings growth in 2006-07 and more branch openings after reporting a 23.2 per cent lift in annual net profit to $116.7 million. Its shares jumped 40c to $12.80.
North Queenslander Pioneer Permanent Building Society, which listed on the ASX yesterday, opened at $5.37, up $2.07 from $3.30, the price it last traded on the Newcastle stock exchange. It is under offer from at least two bidders. It closed on the day's low at $4.75.
Construction company Leighton rose 54c to $17.95 after posting a 28 per cent increase in net profit to $276.07 million for 2005-06.
Engineering company company United Group jumped 70c to $13.95 after reporting a 65.7 per cent jump in net profit to $78.68 million for 2005-06.
The engineer and property services manager said it was entering 2007 in excellent shape with infrastructure spending increasing in all markets.
Shares in steelmakers OneSteel and Smorgon Steel both lost value after the competition regulator said there could be concerns with OneSteel's proposed acquisition of Smorgon.
Smorgon shares lost 11c to $1.62 and OneSteel fell 9c to $3.84.
Children's product distributor Funtastic fell 10.5c to $1.60 as interim net profit fell 9 per cent.
Retailers were up: Coles rose 41c to $11.51, Harvey Norman 5c to $3.34 and Woolworths 44c to $19.36.
Regional Express Airlines, up 1c to $1.03, will buy Sunshine Express Airlines, with the company warning that the Queensland regional airline may not otherwise survive.
Goldminer Newmont lost 17c to $6.75, while Newcrest Mining picked up 7c to $20.20. Jim Wall's BMA Gold, which recently became a producer at its Charters Towers mill, was down 0.5c at 24.5c
The most traded stock was Telstra with more than 71 million shares swapping hands, worth a total of $260.8 million.
The shares fell 9c to $3.67.