Good influences kick shares along

VOLATILITY's the word. After Wednesday's massacre the stockmarket closed sharply higher yesterday, boosted by gains on US markets, buying opportunities and more good employment figures.
Global miner BHP Billiton and the banks led the locals forward.
"There's been a very broad-based rally. Everything in the big end is very strong," CMC Markets analyst David Land said.
"The movement is very strong and probably greater than the things that have been pushing it along, like the gain on Wall Street overnight."
Mr Land said jobs figures for February released yesterday were better than expected, reflecting a tight labour market.
The ASX 200 index closed up 111.1 points, or 1.93 per cent, at 5853.0 while the All Ordinaries was up 104.5 to 5831.8.
BHP Billiton lifted 63c to $27.51 and Rio Tinto gained 81c to $73.34.
Woodside Petroleum was 84c richer at $36.30, Santos firmed 31c at $9.71, and Oil Search was up 10c at $3.55..
Qantas rose 8c to $5.12 after it succumbed to investor demands and released earnings guidance for next year.
Among the big banks, NAB rose 97c to $40.37, Westpac improved 41c to $25.65, the ANZ rose 55c to $28.85, and the Commonwealth jumped 88c to $49.58. St George was 65c higher at $33.40.
Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd was 35c heavier at $19.13 as PBL head James Packer threw his weight behind the Nine Network, the business love of his late father.
Austar United Communications nudged up a penny to $1.31 as chief executive John Porter said the subscription television industry was ideally positioned to take advantage of consumer trends in the next three to five years.
Fairfax Media gained 7c cents to $4.67 and News Corp was steady at $30.35 while its non-voters were up 4c at $28.75.
Telstra firmed 3c to $4.30, as did the partly paids, to $2.85, and Optus owner SingTel was also 3c higher at $2.69.
Sporting and leisure retailer Rebel Sport jumped 32c to $4.57 as shareholders approved Archer Capital's $369 million bid.
Coles rose 28c to $15.80 and supermarket rival Woolworths improved 46c to $27.96.
In the gold sector, Newcrest ascended 45c to $21.30, Lihir firmed 8c to $3.10, and Newmont was up 1c to $5.30. Poor old Emperor seems to have stabilised, closing up 0.6c at 9.2c.
Spot gold closed in Sydney at $US644.70 per fine ounce, up $US2.50 on Wednesday's close.
Winemaker Evans & Tate climbed one cent to 17c as it terminated an agreement to merge with US-listed Yarraman Winery but Yarraman said it was still committed to the proposed merger.
Investment bank Macquarie Bank rose $2.30 to $80.30 after announcing it had agreed to pay $2 billion for a car parking business in Britain.
Online brokers IWL eased 8c to $4.70 as it said it had bought a strategic holding in rival ETrade Australia, which is the subject of a takeover offer by ANZ. ETrade was up 12c at $4.25.
Preliminary national turnover was 1.87 billion shares worth $8.7 billion, with 770 stocks up, 401 down and 335 unchanged.