SHARES ended firmer on today, overcoming a weak start to finish marginally higher on a quiet day when market players stayed mostly on the sidelines.
At 4.15pm (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 13.6 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 4409.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 15 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 4429.5 points.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September futures contract was 11 points higher at 4395 points on turnover of 16,766 contracts.
The market opened 0.1 per cent weaker, defying a positive finish from Wall Street and stronger commodities prices during weekend offshore trading.
But by noon the numbers had turned from red to green, led by rallies among the big miners, gold stocks and the consumer discretionary sector.
By the finish, almost seven stocks rose for every five that fell on a day of anaemic volumes and low turnover.
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Burrell Stockbroking director Richard Herring said the market was reluctant to extend any rallies too far given the uncertainty about the global economic recovery.
"I can certainly understand the hesitancy, it is a difficult outlook,'' Mr Herring said.
"The seas are anything but calm, going forward.
"As the global economic recovery tries to gather some legs and build a case to build momentum from, we really need the US to continue to keep adding little bricks to the wall.''
The biggest mover on the S&P/ASX50 on Monday was explosives and chemicals group Orica, which ended down 5.61 per cent, or $1.44, at $24.24.
Orica was down more than eight per cent in morning trade but recovered after the listing of one of its former businesses, DuluxGroup.
DuluxGroup, a paints, adhesives and garden products supplier, was hived off from Orica as part of a demerger that received court approval last Friday.
Duluxgroup debuted on the ASX at 11.00am at $2.50 a share and hit a high of $2.78 shortly afterwards, but slid lower in the afternoon and finished at $2.54.
Stocks higher despite negative US leadStocks slide on weak jobs report
