Sharemarket nears high thanks to media stocks

The stockmarket closed the day in positive territory, approaching its all-time high, with the media sector and the big banks driving the market upwards.

At the close the ASX200 index was up 31.9 points to 5313.2 while the All Ordinaries was 30.4 higher at 5282.1.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was up 35 to 5321, on volume of 17,105.

CMC Markets analyst David Land said there was no consistent direction out of the top companies but the larger media stocks were contributing to the positive sentiment.

"PBL is having a strong one today, Fairfax is also up strongly, the larger media companies are certainly contributing to the upside we've seen," Mr Land said.

Among the media stocks, John Fairfax rose 19c to $4.73, News Corp was up 15c to $29.03 and its non-voting stock edged up 32c to $27.85. APN too was up 19c at $5.50 and Rural Press rose two bob to $12.10.

West Australian News rose another 18c to $10.65 on heavy buying - 34 million shares went through.

The James Packer-led PBL resumed trading and closed up 74c at $20.59, having hit $21.79 early after it announced the sale of half its media interests to CVC Asia Pacific.

Other media stocks were higher with Austereo putting on 6c to $2.12 and Southern Cross Broadcasting gaining 64c to $14.75.

The market got off to a positive start despite a weak lead from the US overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average slipping 30.58 to 11,950.02.

Mr Land said the fall in the big miners had limited the market's upside.

"Most of the big diversified miners are lower and that's put a cap on how much upside we've got," Mr Land said.

Rio Tinto, which released its third quarter production results, shed $1.30 to $74.22 while BHP Billiton was 8c higher at $27.45.

Rio Tinto posted record third quarter iron ore production but copper has slipped, in part due to industrial action at the Escondida mine in Chile.

The big banks were higher with ANZ picking up 34c to $27.98, National Australia Bank rising 12c to $37.60, the Commonwealth gaining 7c to $46.40 and Westpac rising 18c to $23.06.

Other banking stocks were stronger with Macquarie Bank rising 45c to $71.50 and St George Bank up 24c to $32.24.

The Bank of Queensland was up 11c at $16.56, its highest ever.

Fund manager Perpetual, which lost $2.59 on Tuesday after forecasting slower growth, picked up 98c to close at $73.60.

The retail sector was mixed with Coles Myer gaining 36c to $14.50, David Jones losing 2c to $3.72 and Harvey Norman shedding 3c to $3.71. Woolworths was steady at $20.68.

Energy stocks were stronger despite a slight easing in the oil price overnight with Woodside gaining 25c to $40.10, Santos 2c to $10.42 and Oil Search 8c to $3.44. Beach was unchanged at $1.455.

The spot gold price was $US5.50 lower at $US590.90 an ounce, and so were the goldminers. Newcrest shed 3c to $22.50, Newmont lost 3c to $5.77 and Lihir fell 13c to $2.85.

New Holland Mining was the most traded stock with 104.5 million shares changing hands worth $407,000. The Collins Street gold explorer, with a bit of internet, hit a new low of 0.4c, down 0.03c. It has not been over 3c since June 2000.

West Perth's Jackson Gold almost doubled to 22c with the trade of 23.5 million shares on news of good copper and gold indications (rock chip samples of 4 per cent copper) at its Boolaloo prospect in the western Pilbara.

IM Medical, a heart analysis company, was up .002c to 1.6c.