Australian stocks have defied a negative lead from Wall Street to start the local session slightly higher.

CommSec market analyst Juliana Roadley said the negative sentiment from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and NASDAQ were all down more than one per cent, hadn’t flowed through to the local market.

She said US traders were preparing for the possibility the Federal Reserve will start to taper its stimulus program as early as next week.

But, she said, the Australian market had already sold off significantly in recent weeks.

“We have seen some very big falls over the last few weeks, probably even more of a reaction to the possibility of tapering than we have seen in the US. So, I think today we are probably just playing a bit of catch-up and looking at our own market,” she said.

Ms Roadley said the big event for traders to watch on Thursday would be the release of official employment figures for November.

The big banks were mostly higher, with the exception of the Commonwealth, which lost 34 cents to $74.16.

ANZ was half a cent higher at $30.595, Westpac had lifted 26 cents to $31.14 and while NAB had gained nine cents to $32.96.

In the resources sector, diversified miner BHP Billiton lost 10 cents to $36.08, Rio Tinto dropped 41 cents to $65.36 and Fortescue Metals was six cents lower at $5.54.

Oz Minerals shares were up 22.5 cents, or 8.5 per cent, to $2.875, clawing back some of the ground lost during Wednesday’s session.

The company’s shares on Wednesday finished more than 14 per cent lower after it gave a disappointing update on its copper and gold reserves.

KEY FACTS

* At 1025 AEDT on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 6.6 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 5,110.8 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 6.0 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 5,115.5 points.

* The December share price index futures contract was down three points at 5,112 points, with 11,359 contracts traded.

* National turnover was $277 million securities worth $478 billion.