Late gains have pushed the share market slightly higher ahead of the release of US job numbers.

Investors are hoping the US non-farm payrolls employment data for March, due out on Friday night, will clarify if harsh weather has been behind a slowdown in hiring, Invast Securities chief market analyst Peter Esho said.

“These figures are important. All eyes are on that and the market tends to trade pretty flat ahead of US job numbers,” he said.

Among the big miners, BHP Billiton lifted 22 cents to $37.75, Rio Tinto gained four cents to $63.72 and Fortescue Metals was up six cents at $5.45.

The big banks benefited from a late rally, with ANZ 16 cents higher at $33.37, Westpac up 13 cents at $34.60 and National Australia Bank up one cent at $35.38.

Commonwealth Bank dropped five cents to $76.98

Telstra also fell, losing three cents to $5.06.

Building products maker CSR firmed three cents to $3.60, and Boral was also three cents higher at $5.72, after the companies proposed a merger of their east coast brick manufacturing operations.

Toll roads operator Transurban gained five cents to $7.31 after the competition watchdog said it would not oppose the proposed purchase of several government-owned Brisbane roads by a Transurban-led consortium.

KEY FACTS

* At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 12.9 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 5,422.8 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 12.9 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 5,428.6 points.

* The June share price index futures contract was five points higher at 5,415 points, with 13,615 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 1.4 billion securities worth $3 billion.