Aussie shares end higher to keep momentum of recent months

SYDNEY, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market ended higher on Thursday, keeping the momentum of recent months despite a quiet post-Christmas trading period.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 stock index was up 18.2 points or 0.3 percent at 6,088.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 19.7 points or 0.32 percent at 6,189.4.

CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian told Xinhua it was "quite normal" to see the lower trading levels, although "investors seemed to have built up a bit of enthusiasm this afternoon and we actually ended at the best levels of the day and very close to 10-year highs."

There was also not much in the way of a lead from Wall Street, which finished only slightly higher overnight, but the Aussie market has seen "quite a bit of momentum being built for the past three months" and "doing much better than the middle of the year when we were doing pretty much nothing," he said.

Sectors that helped the market for the day included gains from the banks, miners and supermarket chains, said Daghlian.

ANZ edged up 0.04 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia lifted 0.41 percent, the National Australia Bank gained 0.3 percent and Westpac added 0.51 percent.

Mining giant BHP Billiton rose 0.55 percent and rival Rio Tinto gained 0.36 percent. Gold miner Newcrest was up 0.57 percent.

Oil Search lifted 0.52 percent, Santos was up 0.37 percent and Woodside Petroleum gained 0.76 percent.

Wesfarmers rose 0.93 percent and rival Woolworths gained 0.62 percent.

Qantas fell 0.59 percent, telecom giant Telstra was up 0.82 percent and biomed group CSL slipped 0.14 percent. Enditem