THE Australian share market closed higher amid short-covering and expectations of the Government amending its proposed resources super profit tax (RSPT).
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 72 points, or 1.67 per cent, at 4,379.2 points and the broader All Ordinaries index gained 68.7 points, or 1.59 per cent, to 4399.1 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was 80 points higher at 4380 on a volume of 37,800 contracts.
CMC Markets analyst Matt Lewis said that talk of amending the RSPT on mining, and short covering led to a bounce this afternoon.
"Despite the negative lead from US markets, we've had quite a nice bounce this afternoon, particularly led by the material giants BHP and Rio driving the index higher." he said.
"Obviously talk of amending the RSPT is driving the overall index higher."
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Among the banks, Commonwealth was down five cents at $54.53, Westpac was up 74 cents, or 3.37 per cent, at $22.72, NAB lifted 50 cents, or 2.11 per cent to $24.15, and ANZ increased 22 cents, or 1.01 per cent, to $22.09.
By 4.20pm (AEST), the spot price of gold in Sydney was $US1215.60 per fine ounce, up $US10.07 on yesterday's closing price of $US1205.53.
Dow builds on its gainsStocks lower at noon
