Another up day … How long can it last?

The stockmarket closed in positive territory again yesterday, driven by the finance sector and BHP Billiton after a positive lead from Wall Street.
The ASX200 index closed 53.5 points higher at 5825.3 while the All Ordinaries was up 53.4 points at 5803.3.
Traders on the Sydney Futures Exchange were a little less sanguine. The March share price index contract closed 40 higher at 5808 on a volume of 39,710 contracts but was still 17 points below the physical.
CMC Markets analyst David Land said a strong lead from offshore markets set the local bourse up for a solid session with finance stocks and the resource sector attracting a lot of interest.
"It was a pretty solid session overnight and that, combined with decent commodity prices, set us up for a good day," he said.
"There was a bit of life in some of the bigger end of the finance sector and we're also seeing BHP higher.
"I think the market, in the broader term, remains solid but in the immediate term I expect we'll see some continuation of the volatility."
US stocks rallied on Tuesday night, snapping a three-day losing streak. The Dow put on 157 points to 12,207 and the S&P 500 index picked up 21 to 1,395.41. The Nasdaq rose 44.
Actually, the big miners were mixed. BHP Billiton climbed 37c to $27.43 while rival Rio Tinto dropped 20c to $74.80.
The energy sector was stronger after higher oil prices on Tuesday night with Woodside up 22c to $35.77, Santos up a deaner to $9.42 and Oil Search up 9c to $3.47. Roc was up 16c to $3.01.
The big banks were mixed, with the Commonwealth picking up 28c to $50.13, Westpac rising 27c to $25.74, the ANZ gaining 10c to $29.10 and NAB dropping 16c to $40.04.
Brewer Lion Nathan put on 12c to $8.47 after the company acquired the Inner Circle Rum brand for an undisclosed sum, further expanding its spirits and ready-to-drink operations.
The retailers were stronger, with Woolworths gaining 12c to $27.81, David Jones putting on 13c to $4.51, Harvey Norman rising just a penny to $4.41 and Coles 7c to $15.47.
Fashion house Just Group climbed 36c to $4.15 after the company announced an off-market share buyback and a 9 per cent lift in first-half net profit to $39.7 million.
Telstra edged 6c higher to $4.22 after it announced plans to raise up to €1 billion through the sale of long-term debt in the Eurobond market.
Australia's largest power retailer, AGL Energy, gained 41c to $15.72 after the company scrapped its proposed $14 billion merger with rival Origin Energy.
Origin dropped 65c to $8.65.
The media sector was stronger, with PBL rising 45c to $19.25, Fairfax up 5c to $4.84, News Corp gaining 51c to $30.31 and its non-voting shares picking up 44c to $28.82.
The goldminers were strong with Newcrest edging 65c higher to $21.51, Newmont up 7c to $5.57 and Lihir Gold up 1c to $3.18. Emperor lost 0.1c to 8.9c.
Uranium and base metals hopeful Western Metals, which has BHP as a partner, was yet again the most traded stock on the market with 125.3 million shares changing hands worth $34.6 million. It started strongly and soon hit 32c but eventually closed down 2c at 25c.
Mobile phone virtual network operator CommidiTel attracted punters, who traded 57 million shares between 2.3c and 2.6c. It finished at 2.4c, up 0.1c but looking for its record last week of 3c.