Stocks higher after mixed overseas leads

THE Australian sharemarket opened slightly higher after mixed overnight leads from the US and falls in base metals prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up five points, or 0.12 per cent, at 4149.9 while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 4.2 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 4211.0. The December share price index futures contract was down one point at 4147.0, with 12,679 contracts traded. US stocks ended mixed after a choppy session overnight, following the release of positive jobs data and better than expected activity in manufacturing there. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 37.16 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 11,541.78. The broader S&P 500 added 5.51 points, or 0.46 per cent to 1215.39, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.42 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 2598.62. But there were heavy falls in metals, which can reflect underlying economic conditions due to their wide use in industry, with lead, zinc and aluminium all hitting their lowest level in more than a year. CMC Markets sales trader Ben Taylor said he thought the Australian market would finish flat today, with investors taking a "wait and see" approach until a meeting in Europe this weekend hopefully delivered a unified solution to the debt crisis. "That will be when they can start getting on and delivering to the market some sort of detailed plan about how they are going to recapitalise the banks," he told AAP. "I think we're probably going to trade sideways today. "What's happened overnight with those base metals is not good for commodity companies." Making news, Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal are close to taking a majority share of Australia's Macarthur Coal after Citic Resources Holdings and Citic Group flagged they intend to accept the offer. Macarthur shares are in a trading halt at $16.08. Woodside Petroleum announced it had increased third quarter revenues by 27 per cent as higher commodity prices offset lower production levels. It's shares were up 38 cents, or 1.13 per cent, at $33.98 at 10.49am (AEDT). Fellow energy companies Origin Energy and Santos were more than one per cent stronger. Among the big miners, Rio Tinto was down three cents at $62.82, BHP Billiton had risen 15 cents to $35.63 and Fortescue backtracked seven cents, or 1.62 per cent, to $4.24.