SYDNEY, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Australian market fought back hard after a slow start on Wednesday to finish the day higher on the back of some positive company reports and very strong leads from the Chinese index.
At the close of trade the S&P/ASX 200 index was up 14.10 basis points or 0.24 percent at 5,805.10, while broader All Ordinaries index rose 14.70 basis points at 0.25 percent at 5,850.10.
"There was a pretty big pick up toward the end of our day as China woke and started buying up, they really moved their market and their futures index and that really helped our market." IG market analyst Evan Lucas told Xinhua.
"If you have a look at what's really moved it, there was a bit of an uptick after a down period in materials, but in the main it came down to the fact that there was a fairly reasonable add to Woolworths, on the back of their numbers today."
Most of the sectors had mixed results, with the financial stocks and iron ore producers creating some drag on the market.
"With The commonwealth Bank going ex dividend today, it took about 17 basis points out of the market, so it's impressive the market managed to offset that problem," Lucas said.
The Commonwealth Bank lost 2.60 percent, National Australia Bank lifted 0.75 percent, Westpac added 0.38 percent and ANZ gained 0.62 percent.
Rio Tinto added 0.57 percent, BHP Billiton lost 0.67 percent, Fortescue Metals fell 2.65 percent, while Newcrest rose 0.87 percent.
Woodside Petroleum edged higher at 0.10 percent, Santos climbed 2.02 percent higher, while Oil Search also surged adding 4.91 percent.
Wesfarmers finished higher at 1.82 percent and Woolworths gained 4.43 percent.
Qantas lifted 2.01 percent, Telstra added 0.41 percent and CSL stocks rose 1.05 percent.
