THE share market finished the last trading day of the week in positive territory, lead by gains in the mining and energy sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 39.4 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 4396.3, while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 40.4, or 0.92 per cent, at 4,414.5 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September futures contract was up 37 points to 4384 points on turnover of 27,453 contracts.
Bell Potter senior adviser Stuart Smith said the market got off to a hesitant start today, but went from strength to strength in the afternoon.
"The banks were tentative early on and they kind of followed BHP down," Mr Smith said.
"BHP was weak when it was repeated that they're interested in picking up some of BP's Gulf of Mexico assets ... that was just a knee-jerk reaction which we tend to do when we see these news items.
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"That sentiment sort of went through the market, but by 11 o'clock, that was all washed out of it and we've been in steady up trend ever since."
BHP Billiton gained 27 cents to $38.43.
Gains were made across the mining sector with Rio Tinto gaining $1.05, or 1.57 per cent, at $68.10, after it said it was looking to expand its activities following the federal government's switch to a resource rent tax for miners.
Mr Smith said recent uncertainty in the market would be removed once the federal election is called.
"Uncertainty will be removed and that's what this has been all about. Once we get a certain date to focus on, you'll find the market will take positive steps," he said.
Gains were made across the energy sector with Santos leading the charge.
Santos shares rose $1.24, or 9.72 per cent, to $14.00, after it confirmed it's continuing talks about the potential sale of equity in its $7.7 billion Gladstone liquefied natural gas (GLNG) project.
Origin Energy was up 42 cents, or 2.79 per cent, at $15.50 and Oil Search was up 13 cents, or 2.3 per cent, at $5.79.
Among the major banks, NAB gained 28 cents to $24.04, Westpac rose 18 cents to $22.20, Commonwealth Bank rose 25 cents to $49.80 and ANZ gained 25 cents to $22.39.
The spot price of gold in Sydney closed at $US1,197.60 per fine ounce, down $US7.30 from Thursday's closing price of $US1,204.90.
Newcrest Mining was up 13 cents to $34.31 and Lihir Gold was up one cent to $4.23.
High-end retailer David Jones said it was terminating the lease on a proposed store in a suburban Melbourne mall, due to a lack of wealthy customers.
Its rival Myer quickly moved to take on the lease.
David Jones shares were down two cents to $4.49 while Myer shares fell one cent to $3.32.
The top traded stock by volume was Grand Gulf Energy with 68.2 million shares traded for $991,853, after the oil and gas explorer said it had made a discovery at its Napoleonville project in Louisiana.
National turnover reached 1.36 billion shares worth $3.88 billion, with 623 stocks up, 336 down and 341 unchanged.
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