The Australian share market has closed higher as investors continued to gain confidence despite more weakness in the resources sector.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said the buying momentum seen over last week had continued on Monday.
“We have seen support for, or bargain-hunting, in the big non-mining-type stocks,” he said.
“Today is quite similar to Friday where we got a fairly neutral lead from overseas markets and yet the buyers have continued to put in place their acquisition program.”
Mr Spooner said there had been strong support for supermarket operator Woolworths.
Woolworths was 92 cents, or 3.88 per cent, higher at $24.63 amid speculation that it was looking to offload its Big W variety store chain.
Wesfarmers, which owns rival supermarket Coles, also attracted support, rising 41 cents to $39.42.
Mr Spooner said some quite solid sales results from department stores last week and improving consumer sentiment surveys had boosted the retail sector as a whole ahead of Christmas.
Department store chain Myer was up four cents, or 3.88 per cent, at $1.07 after releasing better-than-expected quarterly sales results last week.
Investors also bought up the big banks and Telstra but dumped resources and energy stocks which are still being hit by ongoing weakness in commodity prices.
Among the major banks, National Australia Bank was up 26 cents at $30.22, Commonwealth Bank climbed 57 cents to $80.40, ANZ ascended 11 cents to $27.85, and Westpac put on three cents at $31.89.
Telstra firmed five cents to $5.46.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton dipped 43 cents to $20.07, Rio Tinto was off 48 cents at $48.13, but Fortescue Metals lifted nine cents to $2.18.
Shares in Veda Group rose six cents to $2.75 after the credit information provider urged shareholders to accept a $2.5 billion takeover offer.
KEY FACTS
* On Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 20.3 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 5,276.4 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 21 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,326.5 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was 21 points higher at 5,285 points, with 21,287 contracts traded.
* The price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,070 per fine ounce, down $US15.89 on Friday’s price of $US1,085.89.
* National turnover was 1.69 billion securities worth $3.92 billion.
