Australian share market rallies

The Australian share market rose in opening trade, after Wall Street rallied in late trading on news that US interest rates would stay down for now.

At 10.15am AEDT (12.15pm NZT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 35.1 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 4832.3, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 33.4 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 4842.5.

On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the March share price index contract was 32 points higher, at 4836 on a volume of 40,936 contracts.

In the US overnight, stocks finished stronger after the Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates low and said the labour market looked to be stabilising.

The Dow Jones industrial average posted its sixth-straight gain, up 43.83 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 10,685.98.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 8.95 points, or 0.78 per cent, at 1,159.46, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index finished 15.8 points higher, by 0.67 per cent, at 2,378.01.

At 10.17am AEDT, the major Australian banks were stronger.

Among the big four, NAB was 13 cents higher at A$26.88 ($34.70), Commonwealth Bank had risen 36 cents at A$56.04, ANZ was up 26 cents at A$24.41, and Westpac was 28 cents stronger at A$27.19.
Macquarie Group was 69 cents higher at A$49.33.

Mining giant BHP Billiton was 35 cents higher at A$43.10 at 10.17am AEDT, while Rio Tinto was up 82 cents at $76.32.

- AAP