Local stocks ended the last trading day of the week in the black, however came off earlier highs due to falls on the Chinese share market and a predicted lower start for Wall Street. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 18.3pts or 0.4pct to 4780.1, after earlier hitting a high of 4801.1. Over the course of the week, the market added 1.9pct.

Financial stocks ended fairly flat despite a strong start. Shares in the ANZ (ANZ) were the biggest drag out of the big four, falling 0.5pct to $23.31 while Westpac (WBC) fell 0.1pct to $21.93. Shares in the NAB (NAB) added 0.1pct to $23.93 while the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) gained 0.3pct to $49.43 and Macquarie Group (MQG) firmed by 0.9pct to $35.80.

Mining stocks fared better, boosted by firmer commodity prices. BHP Billiton (BHP) added 0.6pct to $44.59 while Rio Tinto (RIO) was up 1.7pct to $86.42 and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) advanced by 1.4pct to $6.50. Australia's largest gold producer Newcrest Mining (NCM) gained 0.8pct to $40.74 as the Comex gold contract moved higher in Asian trade. At 4pm AEDT the gold price was up a further 0.2pct to US$1391.80.

Energy stocks also fared well, with the sector rising 0.6pct. Shares in Woodside Petroleum (WPL) added 0.4pct to $42.21 while Santos (STO) was up 0.5pct to $12.63 and Caltex (CTX) gained a further 0.7pct to $13.89.

David Jones (DJS) held its AGM today, defending the payout to a former publicist who brought a sexual harassment claim against the company's former CEO earlier this year. DJS shares closed down 0.7pct to $4.39 with the retailer also claiming the recent wet weather in the Eastern states has affected consumer demand.

Transport investigators say the leaking of oil into the engine of a Qantas (QAN) operated Airbus A380 was behind the airline's incident last month, which saw a flight diverted back to Singapore. QAN shares added 1.9pct today to $2.69.

In the healthcare sector, CSL Limited (CSL) shares ended lower by 1pct to $35.28.

Construction giant Leighton Holdings (LEI) added 0.7pct to $32.52 after one of its subsidiaries, John Holland, was selected to manage the Country Regional Network by the NSW government.

Economic data released today showed the Performance of Services index fell from 50.7 to 46.2 in November. Any reading below 50 suggests that the services sector is contracting. The services sector has contacted in nine of the past 11 months in 2010.

New vehicles sales rose in November. There were 87,342 new motor vehicles sold in November, up 1.8pct on a year ago. Sales of four-wheel drive vehicles hit record highs over the past year.

CommSec has estimated that vehicle sales rose 1pct in seasonally adjusted terms in November after falling by 0.6pct in October.

The Australian dollar ended the day's trade at US97.57c, £0.6257 and €73.9c.

On the market overall, a total of 2.03 billion shares were traded, worth $4.12 billion. 574 were up, 529 were down and 375 were unchanged.

At 4.15pm AEDT on the ASX24, the futures contract was at 4704, up 13pts.

Ahead tonight, key employment data is released in the US.