Aussie stocks: Market posts rise

The Australian share market brushed off a negative lead from Wall Street and weaker start to finish on a firmer note, with stronger banking stocks outweighing falls from the miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 27.9 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 4332 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 25.2 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 4334.4 points.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 1615 AEST, the September share price index contract was 33 points higher at 4298 on 24,020 contracts.

CommSec market analyst Juliette Saly said the market did well after a poor lead from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 32.12 points, or 0.34 per cent to 9337.95.

"We shrugged off a negative lead from Wall Street and actually traded higher," Ms Saly said.

She said the Commonwealth Bank was reporting its annual results on Wednesday and investors were cautious ahead of the figures, but other banks had solid gains.

"Other banks are performing solidly today and that is helping to negate the losses we are seeing coming through from the miners," Ms Saly said.

Commonwealth Bank closed up nine cents to $43.93, National Australia Bank rose 56 cents to $26.02, Westpac gained 36 cents to $23.02, ANZ was up 40 cents to $19.69 and Macquarie Group put on 98 cents to $45.47.

Mining stocks were mostly down, with the world's biggest resources company, BHP Billiton, down 16 cents to $37.60 and rival Rio Tinto off 65 cents to $57.90.

Ms Saly said Rio shares continued to affected by uncertainty caused by the detention of four employees in China who have been accused of stealing state secrets.

"Rio Tinto shares are really being punished by the suspicions being aroused by China," Ms Saly said.

"BHP Billiton is also reporting its result tomorrow, so it is weaker, along with weakness in commodity prices," she said.

Gold miners were also lower, as the price of the precious metal fell.

At 1622 AEST gold was trading at US$947.65 per fine ounce, down US$7.58 on Monday's local close of US$955.23.

Newcrest Mining shares ended down 41 cents to $29.59, Newmont lost 10 cents to $4.88 while Lihir Gold fell three cents to $2.62.

Energy stocks were mixed, with Woodside Petroleum up 40 cents at $43.97 and Oil Search was down six cents to $5.41.

Santos shares dropped eight cents to $14.50 while Origin Energy increased 40 cents to $14.72.

Cochlear shares ended down nine cents to $58.6 after the hearing implant company lifted annual net profit by 13 per cent to $130.54 million in 2008/09.

Medical centres operator and diagnostics provider Primary Health Care on Tuesday said it expected significant growth in earnings per share and profit in 2010.

"Both Primary and Cochlear results were pretty good, but again the market was looking for something more," Ms Saly said.

Primary Health Care shares were off 11 cents at $5.58.

JB Hi-Fi Ltd's share price shot to a record intraday high at $17.56 after brushing off the economic downturn with its largest yet annual profit.

Shares in the JB Hi-Fi rose $1.38 or 8.67 per cent, to close at $17.30.

Other retailers were trading mixed. Coles owner Wesfarmers put on one cent to $25.30 and Woolworths fell 11 cents to $27.09.

Harvey Norman increased four cents to $3.22 and David Jones rose seven cents to $4.92.

Media stocks traded up, with Fairfax Media rising 6.5 cents to $1.53, News Corp shares up 40 cents at $15.80 and its non-voting scrip gaining 10 cents to $13.61.

Consolidated Media shares ended up one cent ao $2.85.

At 1636 AEST the top-traded stock by volume was diamond and iron ore explorer Flinders Mines, with 137.42 million shares worth $9.35 million changing hands.

Its shares were up 1.3 cents, or 21.67 per cent, at 7.3 cents.

Preliminary national turnover was 2.41 billion shares worth $4.81 billion, with 558 stocks up, 490 down and 336 unchanged.

- AAP