Sharemarket all over the place - but up

Australian stocks closed in positive territory yesterday despite a varied performance across a range of sectors.
The ASX200 index closed 35.6 points higher at 5358, while the All Ordinaries was up 35.9 points at 5339.3.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was up 79 points to 5374, reversing Monday's big discount and establishing a mild premium, on volume of 24,719.
"Bit of a mixed bag today, resources stocks BHP and Rio are down but Woodside and Alumina are up," Macquarie Equities adviser Helen Spencer said.
Mining group BHP Billiton shed 36c to $25.69 and rival Rio Tinto retreated 43c to $72.57.
"Outside of the banking stocks most other industrials are jumping higher after yesterday's retreat," she added.
Banks too were mixed, ANZ dropping 4c to $27.83 and NAB surrendering 11c to $38.05 but Westpac gained 7c to $23.83 and the Commonwealth was up 5c to $47.20.
Car brake maker Pacifica closed 13c higher at $2.17 after a third takeover attempt by Robert Bosch GmbH at $2.20 a share gained a nod from the board.
The higher close countered a dip in US stocks overnight as buying lost momentum after a series of record highs and a drop in oil prices hit energy shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 26.02 points to 12,316.54, while the S&P 500 was down 0.7 points at 1400.50.
Despite a slight fall in the price of gold, miners managed to post convincing gains, with Lihir Gold up 2c to $2.79 and Newcrest up 15c to $23 even.
There was news in the retail sectors: Harvey Norman said its 18 per cent rise in sales for the first four months of 2006-07 was a good sign for the rest of the year and significant Coles shareholder Premier Investments said it would consider a joint private bid to buy all or parts of the retailing group.
Harvey Norman ended 8c richer at $3.97 and Coles stayed steady at $13.40, while fellow retailer Woolworths rose 25c to $21.62 and David Jones jumped 10c to $3.64.
Sporting goods retailer Rebel Sport said it was expecting a big Christmas, helped by hot, dry weather and the Ashes. Its share rose 1c to $4.51.
Media stocks were generally lower, with PBL losing 5c to $20.30, News Corp down 18c at $28.45 and its non-voting stock 24c poorer at $27.40, but Fairfax jumped 18c to $5.00, no doubt on suspicion that a cashed-up Seven could be a bidder.
Telecom group Telstra's partly paid instalment receipts were 3c stronger at $2.21, while Telstra shares gained 1c to $3.64.
Some 214 million T3 instalment receipts were traded.