Upward swing on an emotional roller-coaster

The Australian sharemarket rose strongly yesterday in response to a solid lead from Wall Street and higher prices for base metals.
Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 207.53 points, or 1.67 per cent, to 12,650.36.
The ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Simon Ferguson said the local market was very strong, led by resource stocks that were driven by overnight price rises for commodities.
There was also strong speculation that BHP Billiton would soon make a formal takeover bid for Rio Tinto.
Mr Ferguson said the market was still volatile and investors would be keenly awaiting payroll figures to be released last night in the US that would give some indication of the health of that country's economy.
"These 200-point swings in a day still keep people on the sidelines at the moment," he said. "Our market is overreacting one day and then overcorrecting the next … It's uncertainty. Investors really don't know which way it is going."
The ASX 200 closed 192.6 points higher, or 3.41 per cent, at 5842.9, and the All Ordinaries rose 185.3 points, or 3.25 per cent, to 5882.3.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange the March share price index futures contract added 177 points to 5802, on a volume of 38,629 contracts, according to preliminary calculations.
In the resources sector BHP Billiton rose $1.50, to $38.55. Rio Tinto rose $4.31, to $127.31, as it and its joint-venture partners signed long-term contracts to supply iron ore to Hyundai Steel.
The uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia rose 97c, to $19.80, after reporting a 74.5 per cent jump in annual profit. It said the uranium market had a positive outlook.
The base metals producer Allegiance Mining rose 1c, to $1.06, after maintaining that a bid by Zinifex was inadequate.
In the gold sector Newmont fell 15c, to $6.04, Lihir fell 3c, to $3.69, and Newcrest rose 43c, to $35.36. The price of gold in Sydney was $US925 per fine ounce, down US25c on Thursday's close of $US925.25.
Woodside Petroleum rose $2.15, to $48.50, and Santos rose 66c to $12.78.
The banking sector made gains, too. National Australia Bank rose 80c, to $35.40, Commonwealth Bank rose $1.72, to $51.12, Westpac rose 94c, to $26.52, and ANZ rose 88c, to $26.89.

The banking and insurance group Suncorp-Metway rose 63c, to $15.97. It said it expected to extract greater synergies from its $7.9 billion merger with the general insurer Promina Group but has downgraded its annual insurance earnings guidance because of storm claims.
In the media sector News Corp rose 52c, to $21.92, and its non-voting stock rose 34c, at $21.31. Consolidated Media rose 1c, to $4.47, and Fairfax Media rose 7c, to $4.10.
Telstra rose 7c, to $4.41, and its instalment receipts were up 6c, to $2.85. The owner of Optus, Singapore Telcom, rose 1c, to $2.94.
The retailer Woolworths rose 60c, to $29.40, and Wesfarmers, which owns Coles, rose $2.10, to $37.40.
Agencies
FRIDAY'S MOVES
Rises 793 Falls 416 Steady 334
Mar SPI (as at 4pm) 5783.0 +158.0
ASX 200 5842.9 +192.6
Financials 6100.9 +206.0
Industrials 6053.4 +208.2
Energy 14114.3 +477.7
Volume Value 1.415b 6.312b
MONEY
$A/US¢89.57+0.43
TWI68.8+0.5
90-day bank bills7.380 +0.027
3-yr bonds (Sep '09)6.6925+0.0475
10-yr bonds (Apr '15)6.1925+0.0500