The Australian share market closed up 0.1 percent on Monday as resource stocks advanced and investors anticipated a good profit result from BHP Billiton, dealers said. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 3.3 points at 4,985 while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 4.6 points to 5,043.5.
A total of 994.32 million shares worth 4.1 billion dollars (3.6 billion US dollars) were traded, with 455 rising, 557 falling and 300 unchanged. "The big miners were playing catch-up from lower commodity prices over the weekend... and people are jockeying for position along with the BHP result," said ABN Amro Morgans private client adviser Craig McDonald.
Mining giant BHP Billiton rose 62 cents to 38.60 ahead of reporting a 14.7 percent rise in annual profit to 15.39 billion dollars as the market closed. Rival and take-over target Rio Tinto gained 55 cents to 115.70. Woodside Petroleum rose 1.60 to 55.80, Santos was eight cents higher at 17.80 and Oil Search gained 22 cents to 5.15. Newcrest was up 15 cents at 24.58 while Lihir Gold shed two cents to 2.24.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia was down 1.56 to 42.14 after going ex-dividend. Westpac Banking Corporation rose 15 cents to 22.95, National Australia Bank lost 20 cents to 24.85 and ANZ was down 13 cents at 16.77. Babcock & Brown added six cents to 4.51 but one of its satellite funds, Babcock & Brown Power, lost 17.5 cents or 41 percent to 25 cents after announcing 452 million in writedowns.
Macquarie Group lost 1.73, or 3.3 percent to 50.62. Steel maker BlueScope shed 13 cents to 9.00 after reporting that annual net profit fell 13 percent to 596 million dollars. Gloves and condoms maker Ansell rose 17 cents to 11.40 as it increased its annual earnings and forecast higher growth this financial year.