Aussie share market opens higher on Thursday

The Australian share market has opened higher on Thursday, following a strong open by consumer and industrial stocks, but bogged down by poor performances in the banking sector.

At 1027 local time AEDT, the primary S&P/ASX200 index was up 19 points, or 0.34 percent, to be 5670.4 points, while the wider All Ordinaries market was up 18.3 points, or 0.32 percent, to sit at 5721.7 points.

There have been some early surprises this morning, with Rio Tinto losing 0.5 percent, even after a reporting robust gains on Wednesday, and CommSec market analyst Steve Daghlian told Xinhua, the companies reporting today will have an impact on today's trade.

"Profit results are going to be in focus, with Suncorp releasing numbers, AMP, AGL, and these could really shift the market this morning," Daghlian said.

Some of the banks had a rough morning, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia down 0.09 percent, while the ANZ was down 0.14 percent, however the National Bank of Australia got a boost, up 0.62 percent, while Westpac also did well, up 0.56 percent this morning.

In mining, and BHP Billiton had a heavy drop, down 1.01 percent, Rio Tinto was down 0.59 percent, Fortescue also dipped down 0.45 percent, while Newcrest continued its recent surge, up 0.21 percent.

Oil Search opened to no gain, while Santos made up some ground, up 0.26, with Woodside Petroleum rounding out the gas giants, down a disappointing 1 percent.

Grocery giants Woolworths were down 0.45 percent, while rivals Wesfarmers also fell, down 0.12 percent.

Australian biotech firm CSL was up, 0.48 percent, Aussie iconic airline Qantas was down 0.44 percent, while telco giant Telstra has a solid start to the day, up 0.2 percent.

At 1045 local time AEDT on Thursday, one Australian dollar buys 76.38 U.S. cents.

source: Xinhua