Wall Street kicks local bourse along

The Australian sharemarket surged to fresh highs yesterday buoyed by a confident US market and strong commodity prices.
At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 index was ahead 59.4 points at a record of 6392.9, surpassing its previous best of 6369.0 posted on May 21.
The All Ordinaries was also in record territory, 56.1 points up at 6419.6, beating the May 21 record of 6372.5 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index futures contract was 50 points higher at 6408 on a volume of 25,131 contracts.
Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said yesterday's records were welcome but no surprise.
"What's keeping our head above water is the American market and that's very strong and that's also at record territory," Mr Heffernan said.
"As long as they keep going strongly that puts a floor under any movement downwards in our market. That gives me a lot of confidence for the future of our market going forward [for] months."
Mining giant BHP Billiton was up 2.11 per cent, adding 68c to $32.85, while its rival Rio Tinto gained a cent to $95.90.
The banks joined the party, with National Australia Bank adding 28c to $41.85, Commonwealth Bank rising 22c at $55.32, ANZ improving 31c to $29.26 and Westpac lifting 13c to $26.29.
The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US6.25 higher at $US669.75 per fine ounce.
The goldminers brightened, as Lihir Gold picked up a cent to $3.18, Newmont Mining swelled 9c to $5.04 and Newcrest Mining ended $1.14 better at $22.89.
Australia's biggest home and motor insurer, IAG, closed 5c up at $6 despite abandoning its bid to buy a stake in a Chinese insurance giant Pacific Insurance Group Company.
Shares in Timbercorp surged more than 10 per cent, gaining 20c to $2.05, after the agriculture investment company said it had been approached by parties interested in exploring an acquisition or merger with it.
The Australian stockmarket was given a good lead by Wall Street's Friday close, when the Dow and the S&P 500 made record finishes, as strong US jobs and manufacturing data reassured investors about the American economy's health.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40.47 points, or 0.30 per cent, to end at a record 13,668.11, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 5.72 points, or 0.37 per cent, to finish at a record 1536.34. The Nasdaq Composite index climbed 9.40 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 2613.92.
Retailers had full trolleys yesterday, with takeover target Coles Group improving 17c to $16.88, Woolworths advancing 40c to $28.14 and David Jones gaining 7c to $5.26.
Qantas bucked the market trend, falling 1c to $5.69, while telecommunications giant Telstra found 4c to $4.92.
The media sector had mixed success, with Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd down 49c to $20.86 while News Corp added 57c to $29.21, its non-voting stock 68c better at $27.32. Fairfax Media rose 5c to $4.89.
The most traded stock by volume was Investa Property, with 52.35 million of its shares worth $162.65 million changing hands. Its shares lost 1c to $3.10.
Overall market turnover was 1.73 billion shares worth $5.69 billion, with 738 companies trading higher, 580 lower and 338 unchanged.