Banks help lift Australian market in morning trade

The Australian market was off to a positive start on Wednesday with the banking sector doing most of the heavy lifting.

At 10:40 (AEST) the S&P ASX/200 index was up 12.80 basis points or 0.23 percent at 5,634.80, while the Broader All Ordinaries index gained 15.10 basis points or 0.27 percent at 5,687.70.

"The banks have been the real drag on our market in the past two weeks and part of the reason we have been under-performing," IG market analyst Even Lucas told Xinhua.

"We are getting a bit of stabilisation in the financial services sector now so that explains why we are in positive ground today."

With mixed starts in a number of sectors, energy has started sluggishly.

"Energy could have been under even more pressure than it is, considering what came out with the American Petroleum Institute and their inventory stockpiling numbers regarding oil," Lucas said.

"Yesterday in the U.S. markets energy providers were under a lot of pressure and we would have expected to see that carry over here as well, it is down, but it's not under anywhere near the kind of pressure we might expect, which could suggest we are seeing a floor to how far and how much of a discount energy providers are being put into, with the oil prices being quite volatile."

The Commonwealth Bank is up 0.16 percent, National Australia Bank has lifted 0.66 percent, Westpac dipped 0.25 percent and ANZ gained 0.31 percent.

BHP Billiton dropped 0.69 percent, Rio Tinto up slightly at 0.06 percent, Fortescue Metals added 0.45 and Newcrest gained 0.80 percent.

Santos fell 1.28 percent, Woodside Petroleum edged higher at 0.10 percent and Oil Search lost 0.29 percent.

Wesfarmers added 0.75 percent and Woolworths edged lower down 0.04 percent.

Qantas lifted 0.15 percent, Telstra dropped 1.37 percent and bio tech firm CSL rose 0.24 percent. Endit