BHP holds up sagging market

The sharemarket bounced back from a poor start and closed just short of record highs yesterday, buoyed by strong gains from BHP Billiton.
The ASX 200 shed 3.1 points to 5924.1 while the All Ordinaries lost 4.3 points to 5895.0.
The ASX 200 hit an intra-day record of 5934.7 points while the All Ordinaries peaked at 5905.3 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index contract closed 12 points lower at 5896 on a volume of 10,932 contracts.
Austock Brokers senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said a strong performance by BHP counteracted a poor lead from Wall Street on Friday.
"It's not a bad start to the week, given the pretty downbeat performance in the US on Friday," he said.
"There were probably more decliners than risers on the market.
"But I think it was very comforting for the market to have the biggest stock [BHP Billiton] rising almost 2 per cent.
"Most of the sectors were down. But I think when you see close to a 2 per cent rise in the biggest stock in the market, it is going to be a big driver overall."
BHP Billion put on 53c to $28.59 while Rio Tinto added 24c to $75.84.
With the spot price of gold closing in Sydney at $US665.25 an ounce, up $US6.40 from Friday's local close, the gold miners were stronger. Newcrest put on 15c to $22.21, Newmont gained 6c to $5.90 and Lihir added 11c to $3.30.
Junior explorer Western Metals was the most traded stock, with 79.5 million shares changing hands collectively worth $11.8 million. Its price climbed 2.5c to 15.5c.
Banks were mixed, with the CBA picking up 10c to $51.30, ANZ dropping 29c to $29.36, NAB retreating 22c to $40.96 and Westpac losing 16c to $25.35.
Bendigo Bank gained 25c to $14.31 after it delivered a 1.9 per cent rise in first-half net profit to $54.3 million.
The media stocks were weaker, with PBL giving up 9c to $20.35 and News Corp losing 25c to $32.35.
Fairfax lost 6c to $4.97 following a 2.7 per cent drop in underlying net profit to $121.4 million.
APN gave up 7c to $5.98 after its board accepted an increased $6.10 takeover offer from a consortium led by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News.
In retailers David Jones added 3c to $4.71 but Woolworths slipping 23c to $25.52, Coles 28c to $14.65 and Harvey Norman 3c to $4.13.
The energy sector was mixed despite an oil price rise. Woodside fell 4c to $36.77.