The share market is up by almost one third of a per cent, with the banks leading the recovery after two days of heavy losses.
The big miners and energy stocks are the only sectors to be slipping, following a dip in crude oil and iron ore prices.
A moderate lead from Wall Street, where the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.38 per cent, is helping the Australian share market, led by the big banks, Australian Stock Report head of research Chris Conway said.
“Given the weighting of the financial sector, that’s what’s driving the little pop higher that we’ve seen this morning,” he said.
“The banks, they’ve been sold off so heavily … some bargain hunters perhaps moving back in to those beaten down names now we’ve got the banks’ reporting season out of the way.”
Macquarie Group added $4.06, or 5.3 per cent, to $80.56 after lifting its full year profit 27 per cent, to $1.6 billion, beating both market expectations and its own guidance.
NAB went into a trading halt on Thursday after announcing that it will engage in a mammoth $5.5 billion capital raising.
The Commonwealth was up 80 cents at $83.91, Westpac had gained 37 cents to $34.27 but ANZ fell 41 cents to $32.60.
Banking and insurance group Suncorp added 10 cents to $13.07 after lifting its total lending 3.3 per cent during the three months to March 31.
Among the miners, BHP Billiton fell 30 cents to $31.59, a day after shareholders approved its plans to demerge non-core parts of the business.
Rio Tinto was down three cents to $58.51 and Fortescue Metals fell two cents at $2.56.
The energy stocks were the weakest performers, after the West Texas and Brent North Sea oil prices dived after hitting 2015 highs.
Oil and gas explorer Woodside fell 46 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $34.60, Santos fell 21 cents, or 2.3 per cent, to $8.82, while Oil Search dropped 10 cents to $7.73.
KEY FACTS
* At 1015 AEST on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 16.8 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,662.5.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 16.4 points, or 0.29 per cent, at 5,661.2.
* The June share price index futures contract was 10 points higher at 5,627 with 10,618 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 166 million securities worth $432 million.
