The Australian sharemarket is continuing to rally, with investor sentiment buoyed by a better-than-expected domestic earnings season.

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said it was a good result for the ASX considering the largest company on bourse by market value, Commonwealth Bank, was trading ex-dividend taking more than 2.0 per cent off its value.

“We were the strongest market of all the developed markets in world last week and we haven’t done that for a very long time,” he said.

“There is some real positive momentum and it shows the negativity we saw leading into earnings season may have been overdone and people are now having to play catch up because their positioning is probably incorrect.”

Posting earnings results on Monday, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank lifted first half cash profit to $185.9 million, although its net profit was down almost nine per cent to $180.7 million due to one-off charges. Its shares were up 16 cents at $11.88.

The big four banks were mainly higher with ANZ up 36 cents at $31.70, Westpac 14 cents higher at $32.89 and National Australia Bank 50 cents better at $34.62. But Commonwealth Bank was down $1.63, or 2.2 per cent, at $74.36,

Among the miners, BHP Billiton, due to report its first half results on Tuesday, was up 28 cents at $37.99, while Rio Tinto had lifted $1.59 to $69.49. Fortescue Metals, which is expected to release its results on Wednesday, was up 8.0 cents at $5.78.

KEY FACTS

* At 1226 on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 21.3 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 5,377.6 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 22.5 points, or 0.42 per cent, at 5,389.4 points.

* The March share price index futures contract was up 33 points at 5,341 points, with 12,096 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 856 million securities worth $2 million.