Aussie stocks rally amid U.S. futures pointing to strong opening

Aussie stocks bucked U.S. and Chinese equities to close higher on Thursday as a bounce in ANZ and gains in resources on solid production reports help shrug off a disappointing U.S. Federal Reserve statement.

At the close on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 29.8 points, or 0.6 percent, higher at 4,976.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 27.3 points, or 0.55 percent, at 5,028.1.

The Australian market opened with caution after Wall Street fell on the Fed's statement that wasn't as dovish as some had hoped. However, the hunt for dividend yield saw rallies in resources and ANZ when the S&P 500 futures became bid.

"Volumes were noticeably beefy this afternoon as investors returned with confidence and wallets," Vital Addition head of sales Betty Lam said.

News of better than expected output and cost cutting among a variety of production reports helped improve sentiment in the materials space, while ANZ is rallying after a management shake up and recently hitting of 10-year lows.

However, banking stocks in general underperformed on Thursday, which does not bode well for the market, IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said.

"The ASX will struggle to make it back above 5,000 and hold that level without the banks starting to catch a buy," Nicholson said.

ANZ bounced 1.52 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia edged 0.30 percent higher, the National Australia Bank is up 0.74 percent and Westpac gained 0.49 percent.

BHP Billiton added 0.60 percent, rival Rio Tinto gained 2.15 percent while gold miner Newcrest rallied 2.66 percent on a strong production report.

Oil Search lifted 1.84 percent, Santos was 2.08 percent stronger and Woodside Petroleum 1.46 percent stronger.

Wesfarmers edged 0.17 percent higher while Woolworths surged 1.53 percent.

Qantas dipped 0.52 percent while Telstra rose 1.08 percent.

Endit