ASX heads up at open

The Australian share market has opened higher, taking its cues from a positive finish on Wall Street and led by improvement among mining stocks.

At 1015 AEDT the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 21.4 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 4,535.5, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 21.3 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 4,553.8.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was 24 points higher at 4,499 on a volume of 11,678 contracts.

Mining giant BHP Billiton was up 43 cents, or 1.09 per cent, at $39.98, while Rio Tinto had advanced $1.05, or 1.58 per cent, at $67.65.

Fortescue Metals also was higher, climbing 11 cents, or 2.44 per cent, to $4.62.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 10 points or 0.1 per cent thanks to a late rally after being down as much as 160 points during the session.

The S&P500 index ended up 0.29 per cent, while the NASDAQ finished 0.74 per cent higher.

Patersons Securities associate director John Curtin said resources stocks had booked some gains in the morning, but the market was largely treading water ahead of Asian markets opening and any further developments from Europe regarding worries about sovereign debt.

``It was a pretty weak lead coming out of the US, but the issue was that they bounced off a 160-point intra-market low on Friday night,'' Mr Curtin said.

At 1035 AEDT, the spot price of gold in Sydney was at $US1,065.4 per fine ounce, up $US0.95 from Friday's close of $US1,064.45.

Gold miner Lihir was up eight cents, or 2.92 per cent, at $2.82, Newcrest had risen 30 cents, or 0.96 per cent, to $31.45 and Newmont was 29 cents, or 5.84 per cent, firmer at $5.26.

The major banks were weaker.

ANZ had fallen 18 cents to $20.72, CBA was down 15 cents at $52.52, NAB was 23 cents weaker at $25.08 and Westpac had slipped 20 cents to $22.42.

- AAP