The Australian share market has given up earlier gains to close slightly higher after the central bank left the cash rate unchanged.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said the share market had a promising start to the day.

“The thing that’s caused the change is the RBA statement,” Mr Spooner said.

“It was pretty neutral and did not contain any explicitly worded easing bias and that just creates a larger element of doubt about whether we will see rate cuts in Australia.”

Mr Spooner said part of the reason for the stockmarket rally in recent days had been the presumption of further rate cuts.

The Reserve Bank held the cash rate at a record low of 1.75 per cent on Tuesday.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens said the economy had been growing at a slower than average pace and inflation was expected to remain low for quite some time.

Resources and energy stocks performed well while the banking sector was mixed.

Mining giant BHP Billiton rose 56 cents, or 2.9 per cent, to $19.78 and Rio Tinto added 82 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $46.04.

Woodside Petroleum was 41 cents, or 1.5 per cent, higher at $27.46.

In the banking sector ANZ lost 10 cents to $24.86, National Australia Bank dropped three cents to $26.59 but Westpac rose 25 cents to $30.51 and Commonwealth Bank added 74 cents to $77.34.

* At 1615 AEST on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 10.6 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,371 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 10 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 5441 points.

* The June share price index futures contract was up 12 points at 5375 points, with 25,797 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 2.86 billion securities traded, worth $5.67 billion.