market wrap for today

Sydney - Thursday - November 24: (RWE Aust Business News) -

The Australian sharemarket rose sharply today, finally shaking off the selling of the past few sessions as investors consolidated ahead of tonight's Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

The All Ordinaries index ended 32.5 points in front at 4594.9 and the ASX200 index was 35.7 points ahead at 4652.3.

In futures the December SPI200 contract gained 41 points to 4662.

Trading was busy with turnover of $4.6 billion, comprising 547 rises, 460 falls and 353 steadies.

BHP Billiton topped the turnover by value list with trading worth $348 million, and rose 31c to $21.86.

Rio Tinto climbed $1.19 to $61.89 and Alumina jumped 15c to $6.51.

Banks found strong support with Commonwealth rising 39c to $41.89, National improved 30c to $32.90, Westpac was 23c higher at $22.37 and ANZ gained 18c to $23.98.

St George surged 60c to $29.61 and hit a record $29.94 but Macquarie Bank dropped 73c to $68.35.

Telstra held the market back, slumping 11c to $3.90 and plumbing $3.89 - its lowest price since December 1997.

AMP soared 23c to $7.75, QBE gained 29c to $19.15, Lend Lease shed 4c to $14.01, Onesteel rose 10c to $3.63, James Hardie lost 6c to $8.46, Rinker advanced 30c to $15.50, Amcor put on 9c to $7.18, Orica fell 12c to $19.30, Computershare was up 14c at $6.98, PBL gained 16c to $16.46, Tabcorp was 25c higher at $16.62, Aristocrat Leisure surged 49c to $12.60, Flight Centre advanced 26c to $9.83, Leighton climbed 50c to a record $17.39, Transurban put on 8c to $6.86, Toll Holdings - which extended its offer for Patrick Corp to January 9 - slid 17c to $13.46, Qantas gained 5c to $3.72, Woolworths improved 15c to $17.50, AGL was 22c higher at $16.32 and Sonic Healthcare dropped 26c to $14.80.

Miller's Retail jumped 8.5c to $1.165 after announcing the sale of its discount variety assets for $120 million.

Another stock in the news, but for the wrong reasons, was McGuigan Simeon Wines which plunged 24c to $3.05 - extending yesterday's 16c decline after warning that half-year profit could be well down from the previous year.

Woodside Petroleum rose 35c to $33.95 in oil and gas and Santos put on 3c to $11.35 but Caltex lost 29c to $21.31 and Oil Search declined 5c to $3.41.

Newcrest stood out among the goldminers, climbing 68c to $20.72 while Lihir added 2c to $2.15 although Newmont fell 4c to $6.31.

In Tokyo the Nikkei was up 21 points at 14,729 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng had edged up four points to 15,066.

New Zealand's NZSE50 rose 8.7 points to 3316.7.

Gold is worth $US493.55 oz and the Australian dollar is fetching US73.83c.

Ten-year bond yields were half a point firmer at 5.405 per cent.