Mining and energy fuel solid gain

The Australian stockmarket continued its positive run and closed the week at another record high, with the big miners and energy sector driving the bourse upwards.
The ASX 200 closed the week at 5575.4, up 149.6 or 2.76 per cent on last Friday's close. The All Ords closed at 5557, up 141.6 or 2.61 per cent on the week-earlier figure.
At the close of day trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was 12 points higher at 5578.
CMC Markets senior dealer James Foulsham said the market got off to a strong start after a solid lead from Wall Street and higher commodity prices overnight. "People are starting to talk about 6000 now. Hopefully we should push up to that level in the first half of next year," he said.
"BHP and Woodside were strong [and] we saw oil stronger overnight, so the oil stocks were very strong. Woodside opened up the day fairly flat and closed up 2.5 per cent, which is a good move," Mr Foulsham said. Of the big miners, BHP Billiton added 12c to $26.02 while rival Rio Tinto gained 55c to $77.49.
The local energy sector was strong, with Woodside gaining $1 to $38.65, Santos gaining 10c to $9.88 and Oil Search putting on 3c to $3.19. Oil refiner Caltex Australia gained 89c to $22.70 after announcing it expected to post an annual net profit of between $405 million and $425 million.
There was still some uncertainty surrounding the bid for Qantas, which edged 1c higher to $5.29, Mr Foulsham said. "People aren't really sure which way to pick it," he said.
"It is not a dead certainty by any stretch of the imagination. People are a little cautious; it is still 30c below the takeover price, so that reflects the uncertainty surrounding the takeover."
The banks were weaker, with Commonwealth losing 2c to $48.08, National dropping 5c to $39.60 and Westpac shedding 22c to $23.80. ANZ lost 15c to $28.35 after announcing it does not expect growth in net profit in 2007 to be as strong as 2006, given the likelihood of significantly higher loan loss provisions.
General insurer Promina added 4c to $6.80 after an independent expert's report into its proposed merger with Suncorp concluded it was fair and reasonable. Suncorp lost 9c to $19.98
The media sector was mixed. PBL gained 58c to $22.15; Fairfax lost 5c to $4.85; News Corp lost 4c to $28.50 and its non-voting shares shed 8c to $27.11.
Market turnover was 1.87 billion shares, worth $4.6 billion.