Aussie stocks open flat

The Aussie market opened flat but eyed a positive session as gains were seen in banks and mining stocks held losses in the energy and retail sector.

At 1010 AEST on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 0.4 points at 4,931.9, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 0.8 points at 5,014.0.

The overnight rally in commodities off a weaker U.S. dollar helped support the local resources stocks at the open, despite oil stocks being sold as investors see the surge in oil nearing its highs, leading to profit taking before a sell-off occurs, CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner told Xinhua.

"It's a bit hard to identify what has driven the price gains we've seen in the oil price over the last couple of days other than the weakness in the U.S. dollar," Spooner said.

"That's a two-edged thing for Australian producers, it does support the oil price but it makes the Aussie dollar higher, which offsets it to some extent."

Banks were also finding buyers in the early session as bargain hunters returned following the financial sell-off the bourse has seen over the past week.

"There's a very divided opinion about the value or otherwise of Australian banks at the moment, but having seen a one-way street, it was always going to be likely they would attract bargain support," Spooner said, adding it would be interesting to see if buying support and short-covering materializes in the session.

In early trade, ANZ was up 0.63 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia edged 0.16 percent higher, the National Australia Bank rose 0.52 percent and Westpac lifted 0.60 percent.

BHP Billiton gained 1.93 percent, rival Rio Tinto climbed 1.47 percent and gold miner Newcrest was 1.71 percent stronger.

Oil Search fell 0.91 percent, Santos was down 0.63 percent, and Woodside Petroleum added 0.32 percent.

Wesfarmers slumped 0.77 percent while Woolworths was 0.10 percent weaker.

Qantas slipped 0.38 percent and Telstra lost 0.39 percent.

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