Australian share market closes with gains Wednesday

The Australian share market has closed to massive gains on Wednesday, with the banking and energy sectors proving to be the driving force behind the rise.

At the close of the markets on Wednesday, the S&P/ASX200 was up 53.9 points, or 0.94 percent, to close at 5809.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index was also up 48.2 points, or 0.83 percent, to close on 5,859.1 points.

Some of the big movers in today's trade were construction giant Boral who gained 6.38 percent, and tech company Computershare who were up 4.78 percent for the day.

The banks performed well today with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia finishing strong after a strong reporting day, up 2.3 percent, the National Australia Bank also rallied big, up 2.43 percent, Westpac did well, up 1.77 percent, while ANZ rounded out the four with the least gains, up 1.28 percent.

In mining, and Rio Tinto was down 0.16 percent, BHP Billiton was up 1.26 percent, Fortescue had a solid day, up 1.45 percent, while Newcrest also travelled well, up 0.94 percent.

The oil and gas majors had a weak day, with Santos down 0.51 percent, Oil Search was also down 0.14 percent, while Woodside Petroleum made a small gain, up 0.16 percent.

Grocery giant Woolworths struggled, down 0.63 percent, while rivals Wesfarmers were boosted by their good results today, and closed up 2.85 percent.

Australian airline Qantas surged today, up 2.35 percent, while telco giant Telstra also had a rise, up 0.39 percent.

At 1635 local time AEDT, one Australian dollar buys 76.71 U.S. cents. Endit