Market 'stronger than 10 men' as it anticipates BHP Billiton results

The sharemarket climbed further into record territory, with expectations of a strong reporting season and much anticipation of BHP Billiton's first-half result today.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 48.4 points to 5870.5, beating the record of 5831.5 set on Friday. Minutes before the session ended the index set an intraday record of 5871.5, just 1 point above the close.
Macquarie equities private client adviser David Halliday said it was hard to find any significant pocket of weakness. "The market was stronger than 10 men today," he said.
The sharemarket had got through the "January jitters" and was expecting a solid reporting season in the weeks ahead, Mr Halliday said. "But all eyes will be on BHP tomorrow morning at 8.30. There is so much expected from it — it is such a big part of the market."
BHP Billiton rose 27¢ to $26.68 while Rio Tinto gained 41¢ to $75.90.
Woodside Petroleum, however, lost 36¢ to $37.64 while Santos won back 22¢ of recent losses to close at $9.27. The spot price of benchmark crude slipped US28¢ to $US58.74 in New York.
The Big Four banks all closed more than 1 per cent higher, led by ANZ, which strengthened 48¢ $29.86. Westpac rose 36¢ to $25.55, NAB 57¢ to $41.28 and Commonwealth 68¢ to $51.12.
Macquarie Bank dropped $2.48 to $81.40 after chief executive Alan Moss said second-half earnings would be down slightly from the record first half.
The retail sector moved higher. Woolworths led the way with a 36¢ lift to $24.78 and Coles was 14¢ better off at $14.39. Harvey Norman rose 9¢ to $4.18.
The media sector was mostly weaker. News Corp's non-voting shares fell 56¢ to $29.62, with the voting scrip down 55¢ at $31.20. Fairfax was off 5¢ at $4.99 and PBL eased 1¢ to $19.99.
Telstra, which reports its interim results next week, climbed 8¢ to $4.32.
Resources and rail sector products manufacturer Bradken surged 75¢, or almost 9 per cent, to $9.40 after upgrading its annual earnings forecast and posting a 42 per cent lift in first-half net profit.
Primary Health Care slipped 9¢ to $13.75 after the medical centre operator and pathology provider bumped up its first-half net profit by almost 20 per cent and revealed it had proposed a "merger of equals" with Symbion Health. Symbion dipped 3¢ to $4.06.
Australian Agricultural Co moved up 13¢ to $2.23. The company said full-year earnings before a $17.3 million write-down of its cattle inventory had risen more than sevenfold to $39.4 million. Most of the company's stations had made a good start to the 2007 season, the company said.
Engineering and maintenance company Transfield Services surged 92¢, or 9.9 per cent, to $10.20. Canada's Flint Energy Services reported that it and Transfield were leading a group in exclusive talks to manage oil-sands operations for Calgary-based Suncor Energy in a five-year contract valued at more than $C1 billion ($A1.09 million).
A 4.6 per cent slump in nickel hurt Minara Resources, Australia's second-largest nickel producer. It slipped 9¢ to $6.21 while Jubilee Mines dropped 51¢ to $15.73.
Gold rose but the gold miners were mixed. Newmont lost 8¢ to $5.75 while Newcrest picked up 7¢ to $21.18 and Lihir firmed 2¢ to $3.18. Spot gold was up $US3.30 at $US650.05 an ounce in Sydney.