New year, new high: the run's still on

A NEW year and another new high for the Australian sharemarket as it sneaked past its previous record with the help of the big miners.
The market closed virtually flat but still managed to beat the records set last Friday.
The ASX 200 picked up 0.3 of a point to reach a new closing high of 5670.2, while the All Ordinaries was up 1.6 at a record 5645.9. During the day the ASX 200 hit a new high of 5690.7, while the All Ordinaries also set a new intra-day record of 5664.3.
Macquarie Equities private client adviser David Halliday noted that volumes were thin.
Preliminary market turnover was 1.04 billion shares worth $1.88 billion, about a quarter of the usual volume.
"There was a lack of activity by bigger players in the latter part of December but when investors come back to the market, particularly from the professional end of town, people will be more inclined to put money into the market," Mr Halliday said.
He said the activity yesterday gave the first indication that the sharemarket would kick off 2007 in a positive mood.
He said the resource stocks, which had underperformed in the latter part of 2006, were back on the boil.
BHP Billiton rose 23c to $25.53, Rio Tinto increased 49c to $74.79 while Zinifex rose 29c to $19.08. Fellow zinc producer Kagara, which had flagged in December, was up 11c to $7.11.
Oils were strong: Woodside jumped 20c to $38.31 and Santos, which remains uncertain about the cost of cleaning up an Indonesian mud flow from a failed drilling shaft, even rose 2c to $9.89.
Oil Search was up 6c to $3.41, Roc Oil gained 5c to $3.14 and Origin Energy lifted 17c to $8.44.
Banks were mixed with NAB improving 26c to $40.66 and the Commonwealth rising 22c to $49.70. ANZ was 8c weaker at $28.13 while Westpac pulled back 2c to $24.22. St George was down 15c to $32.85.
The retail sector was weaker with Woolworths down 16c at $23.74, Coles off 7c at $13.93 and David Jones slipping 1c to $4.16.
Specialty Fashion, the old Miller's Retail, was up 3c to $1.57 after its purchase late last year of 42 new shops.
Media stocks were also weaker with Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd giving back 6c to $21.29 while Fairfax was steady at $4.83.
News Corp backtracked 9c to $28.36 while its non-voting stock was 7c lower at $27.31.
Macquarie Media was off a penny at $4.90.
The spot price of gold in Sydney closed at $US637.90 an ounce, up $US4.10 on Friday's close of $US633.80.
The goldminers were mixed with Newcrest surging 45c to $26.80 and Lihir Gold rising 8c to $3.20. Newmont was the odd man out of the biggies, losing 3c to $5.76.
Among the other producers, Bendigo was off a penny ha'penny at 76.5c and poor old Emperor down 0.5c to 16.5c.