Energy and mining stocks have led the share market nearly one per cent higher.
Better commodity prices and an indication from the US Federal Reserve that it will keep interest rates on hold for some time were behind the broadbased lift, Lonsec senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said.
“The big driver was the US central bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold for the foreseeable future with a rate rise possibly in the middle of 2015,” he said.
“That all went down very well in America and Europe, and we took the lead from that.
“The commodity prices were also more favourable last night, which saw the resource stocks and the oil stocks do really well.”
Energy and mining stocks enjoyed the biggest rallies.
Among the energy players, Woodside Petroleum shares were up $1.10, or 3.1 per cent, at $36.60, Santos had risen 38 cents, or about five per cent, to $7.96 and Oil Search was 32 cents, or 4.38 per cent, higher at $7.62.
In the mining sector, BHP Billiton was up 53 cents at $28.04, Rio Tinto was up $1.35 at $54.73 and Fortescue Metals had gained 15 cents to $2.50.
The big four banks were higher despite downbeat forecasts for the local economy from ANZ and NAB at their annual general meetings.
ANZ shares were up 51 cents at $30.98, NAB was up 38 cents at $31.73, Westpac had added 25 cents to $31.58 and Commonwealth Bank was 78 cents higher at $81.80.
Building materials firms Boral and CSR will merge their clay bricks businesses into a major market player after receiving the all-clear from the competition watchdog.
Shares in Boral were nine cents higher at $5.11, while CSR rose 11 cents to $3.63.
Flight Centre was one of the worst performers, down $3.17, or 9.05 per cent, at $31.87 after downgrading its profit forecast because of weakness in its Australian operations.
KEY FACTS
* At 1615 AEDT on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 48.9 points, or 0.95 per cent, at 5,210.8 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 49.1 points, or 0.96 per cent, at 5,189.7 points.
* The March share price index futures contract was 41 points higher at 5,161 points with 39,197 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 1.7 billion securities worth $6 billion.
