Stocks Close Higher after listless start

The Australian stock market closed higher, buoyed by strong gains in the resource and energy sectors.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 51 points, or 0.95%, higher at 5422.7, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 49.6 points, or 0.91%, to 5525.9.

"The resources and oil stocks have been the main driver, while some of the financial stocks, such as investment banks, have come back in favour today,'' CMC Markets senior dealer Dominic Vaughan said.

"We saw record prices in oil last night, it did come back of its highs but the oil market is still very well bid and that is reflected in the oil stocks.

"The market, in my view, is still very heavy, but it could be only short-term.''

The market opened moderately lower following a mixed lead on Wall Street overnight, with the Dow Jones industrial average losing
38.27 points, or 0.31%, to close at 12,269.08.

Locally, the big miners were stronger, with BHP Billiton gaining $1.32 to $44.93 and rival Rio Tinto putting on 86 cents to $137.06.

The energy sector was mixed, with Woodside adding 93 cents to $62.20, Santos picking up 30 cents to $21.48 and Oil Search dipping 4 cents to $6.06.

The banking sector was mixed, with ANZ adding 35 cents to $19.75, NAB putting on 42 cents to $27.97, Westpac gaining 6 cents to $21.76 and Commonwealth Bank falling 54 cents to $41.30.

Allco Finance Group gained 25 cents, or 86.21%, to 54 cents after the embattled fund manager said it would cut outstanding debt by almost a quarter following the sale of its US wind project for $346 million.

Crane Group lost 33 cents to $13.06 after the group reaffirmed its annual earnings guidance, forecast 90 staff redundancies and announced that it would supply $65 million of pipe and fittings for a project in Victoria.

Qantas lost 10 cents to $3.22, with the company increasing its efforts to cut costs and offset rising fuel bills with plans to dump loss-making routes in regional Australia.

Explosives, chemicals and paint maker Orica put on 20 cents to $30.00 and said it would build a new ammonium nitrate factory in Indonesia at a cost of about $586 million.

Agricultural chemicals maker Nufarm picked up 19 cents to $17.03, with the company securing its supply of glyphosate, one of the world's most widely used herbicides, through deals with Chinese manufacturers.

The retailers were mixed, with Harvey Norman adding 16 cents to $3.22, David Jones gaining 1 cent to $3.15, Woolworths falling 74 cents to $25.61 and Wesfarmers shedding 6 cents to $38.61.

The media sector was also mixed, with Fairfax gaining 20 cents to $3.08, Consolidated Media Holdings putting on 2 cents to $3.08, News Corp shedding 30 cents to $19.18 and its non-voting shares losing 31 cents to $18.69.

The spot price of gold was higher, and at 4.21pm was trading at $US883.80 an ounce, $US16.05 higher than yesterday's local close of $US867.75 an ounce.

The gold miners were stronger, with Newcrest gaining $1.73 to $28.00, Newmont adding 19 cents to $5.13 and Lihir adding 11 cents to $2.98.

Empire Oil & Gas was the most traded stock on the market, with 82.1 million shares changing hands, worth $2.1 million. The junior explorer picked up 0.1 cents to close at 2.5 cents.

Preliminary market turnover reached 1.88 billion, worth $6.66 billion, with 590 stocks up, 642 stocks down and 369 unchanged.

At 4.15pm on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was 52 points higher at 5430, on a volume of 119,967 contracts.