Australian stocks fluctuated, ending lower for the first day in five, with gains by miners countered by falls in energy stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index ended the day off just 5.8 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 4524.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index had dropped 5.9 points or 0.1 per cent, to 4536.2 points.
Among the major sub-indices materials rose 0.3 per cent, energy shares fell 0.8 per cent while financials were 0.2 per cent lower.
What you need to know
- The Australian dollar rose above 90 US cents
- Asian shares fell on economic growth worries
- Spot gold rose to $US1167 an ounce
- Oil futures were hovering at $US77 a barrel
- Dow futures were up 23 points at 10,471 points
In late news, Mitchell Communications Group said its board agreed to a $363 takeover offer from UK-based Aegis Group.
Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said it was comforting the market had held over the psychological barrier of 4,500 points.
''After a good performance yesterday it is not a bad result at all in my view,'' Mr Heffernan said.
''The power of the market clearly was the relatively strong performance by some of the resources stocks.
''It is a very strong recovery from the depths of about a month ago.''
Mining giant BHP Billiton closed up 26 cents, or 0.65 per cent, at $40.46, while rival Rio Tinto rose 46 cents to $71.50.
Gold producers were mixed, with Newcrest Mining down six cents at $32.72, and the company it is seeking to take over, Lihir Gold, was steady at $4.06.
At 1629 AEST spot gold in Sydney was trading at $US1,168.20 per fine ounce, up $US4.25 on Wednesday’s close of $US1,163.95 per ounce.
Banks advance
Financials also finished slightly up, despite a mixed performance by the big banks.
Commonwealth Bank was up 41 cents at $53.01 and Westpac rose 10 cents to $24.25 but National Australia Bank declined one cent to $25.33 and ANZ fell four cents to $23.19.
Macquarie finished down 47 cents at $38.39.
Major energy stocks were weaker, with Woodside Petroleum down 44 cents at $41.72 and Oil Search losing nine cents to $5.88.
Santos dropped 24 cents to $13.57 while Origin Energy edged down one cent at $15.63.
News Corp fell 21 cents at $16.41 while its non-voting scrip reversed 11 cents at $14.57.
Fairfax was steady at $1.485 cents and Consolidated Media rose three cents at $3.13.
Mixed retailers
Retailers were mixed, with Wesfarmers continuing recent gains to rise 10 cents to $31.23, but Woolworths was down 24 cents at $25.56.
Among the department store stocks, David Jones rose seven cents at $4.80, Myer was up two cents at $3.43 and Harvey Norman gained two cents at $3.59.
Centro Properties Group rose one cent to 21 cents after it announced it is refinancing and extending the debt of its US business.
The top-traded stock by volume was Stirling Products, with 105.36 million shares worth $1.14 million changing hands.
Its shares were up 0.2 cents, or 22.2 per cent, at 1.1 cents.Preliminary national turnover was 1.89 billion shares worth $4.98 billion, with 477 stocks up, 500 down and 374 unchanged.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange at 1615 AEDT, the September share price index contract was 13 points lower at 4,495 on a volume of 19,222 contracts.
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AAP, with BusinessDay