Australian shares follow Wall St higher

The Australian share market has risen in opening trade, after Wall Street staged a late rally to finish higher overnight.

At 10.15am AEDT (12.15pm NZT) the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 12.9 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 4827.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 13.8 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 4839.3.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was nine points higher to 4,828 on a volume of 6,177 contracts.

In the US overnight, stocks finished a little stronger after the head of Citigroup said the bank was on track for recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.51 points to 10,611.84 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.63 points to close at 1150.24.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended up 9.51 points, at 2368.46.

At 10.16am AEDT the major Australian banks were stronger.

NAB was 17 cents higher at A$26.92 ($35.20), Commonwealth Bank had risen 19 cents to A$55.99 and ANZ was 11 cents higher at A$24.17.

Macquarie Group was 53 cents higher at A$49.93 and Westpac was up 15 cents at A$27.15.

In London overnight BHP Billiton stocks fell 2.11 per cent, and in early trade in Australia were 19 cents lower at A$42.82.

Fellow mining giant Rio Tinto was up 35 cents at A$75.90.

Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said nearly all sectors were a stronger, and those down were only fractionally lower.

"It is looking positive at the moment, and spread pretty evenly across the board," Mr Heffernan said.

"The upward momentum is very much intact, largely because nothing disastrous is happening overseas."

At 1024 AEDT the big gold miners were up, with Lihir Gold four cents stronger at A$2.94 and Newcrest up nine cents at A$33.99.

The spot price of gold at 10.24am AEDT was A$Ais,109.20 per fine ounce, up 23 cents on Thursday's closing price of A$Ais,108.97 per ounce.

Gold exchange traded funds were up five cents at A$118.27.

At 10.29am AEDT most energy stocks were stronger, despite oil prices falling a little overnight.

Woodside Petroleum was up 31 cents at A$45.58, gas giant Santos had risen eight cents to A$13.95 while Origin gained four cents to A$16.59.

Oil Search bucked the trend to fall one cent to A$5.70.

Ahead of the start of trade shares in zinc, lead and silver miner C.P.A. Resources went into a trading halt after the company received a takeover proposal.

Media stocks were lower at 10.34am AEDT, with News Corp off four cents at A$18.22 and the company's non-voting scrip seven cents down at A$15.51.

Fairfax fell 0.5 cents to A$1.75, while Consolidated Media was off one cent at A$3.18.

Retailers were off to a good start, and at 1038 AEDT Coles owner Wesfarmers had gone up one cent to A$32.30, while rival Woolworths had risen 11 cents to A$28.47.

Among the up-market retailers Myer Holdings had strengthened four cents to A$3.48 and David Jones was also four cents up, at A$5.12.

At 10.41am AEDT, the top-traded stock by volume was OBJ Ltd, with 48.92 million shares worth A$2.95 million changing hands.

Its share price was up 0.5 cents, or 8.93 per cent, at 6.1 cents.

Overall turnover was 431.74 million shares worth A$677.96 million, with 394 stocks up, 268 down and 319 unchanged.

- AAP