The Australian share market has closed higher despite two of the major banks going ex-dividend.
Strong overseas leads and a rebound in the resources sector helped counter the negative impact on the market of the ANZ and National Australia Bank trading ex-dividend.
Bell Direct equities analyst Leanne Jones said financial stocks had come under pressure earlier in the day, but regained some ground in afternoon trade.
“Materials and energy have been the best performers,” Ms Jones said.
“That was quite surprising because we saw iron ore falling overnight and commodities remained relatively subdued while oil fell off.”
But she said investors were returning to the sector following big falls among iron ore and gold miners on Thursday.
Iron ore miners performed well after Thursday’s pullback due to weaker iron ore prices.
Among the major resources companies, global miner BHP Billiton was 71 cents higher at $34.49, and Rio Tinto was up 70 cents to $60.70.
Fortescue Metals gained 12 cents to $3.15, Atlas Iron added one cent to 23.5 cents, and BC Iron gained four cents to 88 cents.
Among the big four banks, ANZ slid 72 cents to $32.88, and National Australia Bank dumped 96 cents at $33.22.
Commonwealth Bank was up $1.57 cents to $82.76, and Westpac gained 43 cents to $34.84.
Broadcaster Ten surged 17 per cent, to 27 cents on the back of continued speculation that it was a takeover target.
On Wall Street on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.94 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 17,554.47 points.
KEY FACTS
* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 43.0 points, or 0.78 per cent, higher at 5,549.1.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 42.9 points, or 0.78 per cent, at 5,522.1, according to preliminary figures.
* The December share price index futures contract was 57 points higher at 5,553, with 32,462 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 1.6 billion securities worth $5.2 billion.