The share market has held on to its early gains to close three-quarters of a per cent higher.

It opened stronger and stayed there on the back of better-than-expected local employment figures and another record profit from a major bank.

Morgans senior private client adviser Bill Chatterton said markets were a bit in limbo, with investors unwilling to push them much above or below the 5,400 point market unless there was a catalyst.

“The market is arguably pretty well priced but generally investors don’t want to sell aggressively because the yields are still good in the big ones,” he told AAP.

“It is not cheap and it’s not expensive and we are in that phase at the moment.”

Australian job figures for April showed the unemployment rate steady at 5.8 per cent.

National Australia Bank said its half year profit grew by 8.5 per cent to $3.15 billion, following strong profit numbers from Westpac and ANZ in the last week in what are regarded as good signs for the economy.

NAB shares were up 30 cents at $34.14, Westpac gained 40 cents to $34.90, Commonwealth Bank improved 54 cents to $79.09 and ANZ was three cents higher at $33.80.

The resources sector made gains, with BHP Billiton up 48 cents at $37.65, Rio Tinto lifting 86 cents at $61.46 and Fortescue Metals 19 cents higher at $4.82.

Shareholders liked Qantas’s announcement that it would cut 2,200 staff by the end of June, and plans to have nearly all of its 5,000 cuts completed 12 months later.

Shares in the airline gained 2.5 cents, or 2.1 per cent, to $1.245.

KEY FACTS

* At the close on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 41 points, or 0.75 per cent, at 5,476.8.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 36.8 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 5,455.9.

* The June share price index futures contract was 39 points higher at 5,459, with 27,011 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 1.2 billion securities worth $3.8 billion.