The share market has lost some of its early gains but remains higher as the banking sector and two big miners gain ground.

The market received a boost from a strong session on Wall Street overnight, but is also under pressure from a weak Australian dollar, CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said.

“Yesterday was quite a bad day for the share market, we were down three quarters of a per cent, so we are only making up about a third of those losses today,” he said.

“We’ve had quite a negative run and a lot of that is being driven by the US central bank and the weakness in the Aussie dollar and strength in the US dollar.

“About 40 per cent of the Australian share market is owned by foreign investors so the lower the Aussie goes the more spooked foreign investors get.”

BHP Billiton was up 26 cents at $34.95, Rio Tinto had lifted 58.5 cents to $61.335, while Fortescue Metals was down 2.5 cents at $3.635.

Three of the major banks were higher, with Commonwealth Bank up 31 cents at $76.73, ANZ up 14 cents at $31.52 and National Australia Bank was 18.5 cents higher at $33.225.

Westpac was down three cents at $32.44.

Telstra was another major stock in positive territory, up three cents at $5.45.

Brickworks was up four cents at $13.54 after the building products maker achieved 21 per cent profit growth.

Investors will be closely watching a public appearance by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon for signals on the local dollar, interest rates and the housing sector.

KEY FACTS

* At 1200 AEST on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 14.6 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 5,390.4 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 14.5 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 5,390.4 points.

* The December share price index futures contract was up six points at 5,385 points, with 11,976 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 599 million securities worth $1.4 billion.