Oz stocks: Back into black

The Australian share market closed marginally higher after rising back into the black in the final minutes of trading, and the share price index futures contract ticked over from March delivery to June.

Defensive stocks such as telecommunications, utilities and consumer staples fared best although mining stocks capped their gains despite higher commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 9.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 4,863.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 10.8 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 4,877.7 points.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 1619 AEDT, the June share price index contract was three points higher at 4,880 points on a volume of 30,002 contracts.

The March share price index contract expired at noon AEDT, finishing 25 points higher at 4,879 points on volume of 10,127 contracts.

IG Markets analyst Ben Potter said the bourse was defensively postured with the telecommunications, utilities and consumer staples sectors among the best percentage performers.

"Whilst the market has been rallying in recent days, volumes have been far from convincing, suggesting there's not the weight of money to push the market much higher," Mr Potter said.

"Having said that, there are a lot of participants calling for a pullback given the recent strength."

Rio Tinto was 29 cents higher at $76.99.

Fellow mining giant BHP Billiton was down 14 cents to $43.16, after saying it was cautious about the state of the world economy and warned governments to be careful about tax changes and winding back stimulus packages.

Telstra was four cents or 1.28 per cent higher at $3.17 while Singapore Telecommunications, the owner of Optus was two cents lower at $2.49.

In the energy sector, Woodside was 45 cents stronger at $46.25, Oil Search inched one cent lower to $5.87 and Santos fell 12 cents to $14.22.

AGL Energy was nine cents firmer $14.97 and Origin Energy gave up 15 cents to $16.50.

Making headlines on Thursday, Kathmandu confirmed guidance for full year earnings after a net loss of $11.3 million (A$8.75 million) in its inaugural half year as a listed company after counting the cost of its initial public offering.

Shares in the adventure and travel products retailer leapt 17 cents, or 9.77 per cent, to $1.91.

Sigma Pharmaceuticals says it's unlikely to be able to pay a dividend in the second half of its fiscal year due to a material reduction in the carrying amount of goodwill and writedowns.

Sigma has been suspended from trading since March 1, when it traded last at 90 cents.

Internet service provider iiNet says it is confident it will not only succeed in defending an appeal in its court stoush over illegal downloading but that it will emerge in an even stronger position.

Shares in iiNet were steady at $2.45.
Among retailers, Coles owner Wesfarmers inched one cent higher to $31.11, Woolworths was four cents firmer at $28.76 and upmarket department store chain David Jones eased four cents to $5.09.

In the consumer discretionary space, Coca Cola Amatil put on eight cents to $11.24.

Key gold mining stocks were mixed.

Lihir was up four cents at $3.15 while Newcrest retreated 16 cents to $33.97.

At 1632 AEDT, the spot price of gold in Sydney was US$1,122.60 per fine ounce, down US$4.80 from Wednesday's close of US$1,127.40 per fine ounce.

The top-traded stock by volume was Telstra, with 117.7 million shares worth $374.3 million changing hands.

Preliminary market turnover was 2.7 billion shares worth almost $7 billion, with 556 stocks up, 485 down and 413 unchanged.

- AAP