Rallying resources, banks push Aust bourse up

The Australian stock market ended the day on a high, as resource and financial stocks both rallied. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index gained 20.6 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 4799 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 18.6 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 4888.2 points. On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was 44 points higher at 4813 points, with 17,461 contracts traded.

The major miners performed well, Rio Tinto added 42 cents to $87.20 and BHP Billiton climbed 65 cents to $46.47. Among the major four banks, Commonwealth Bank was up 38 cents at $51.25, Westpac added 16 cents to $22.77, National Australia Bank gained 15 cents to $24.20 and ANZ added eight cents to $23.71.

Commonwealth Bank said it raised $570 million through its first offer of retail bonds. Mining giant Rio Tinto secured the backing of takeover target Riversdale Mining after raising its bid for the collier to $3.9 billion. Rio Tinto also said it had divested its holding in US collier Cloud Peak Energy Inc. Riversdale closed up 27 cents at $16.57.

In other news, Horizon Oil was granted an injunction by a Papua New Guinea court restraining that nation's government from taking action over the company's PRL 5 licence. Shares in Horizon closed steady at 30.5 cents. Shares in Telstra Corporation rose one cent to $2.78. The company said it expected an impairment charge against the carrying value of its Octave business in China for about $138 million.

The spot price of gold in Sydney was $1,386.80 per ounce, down $2.68 from Wednesday's local close of $1,389.48. The most traded stock by volume was ovarian cancer treatment manufacturer Prima Biomed, with 65.6 million securities worth $10.37 million changing hands. Prima shares were up four cents, or 33.3 per cent, at 16 cents. Preliminary market turnover was 1.84 billion share worth $3.57 billion, with 613 stocks up, 454 down and 408 unchanged.