SYDNEY, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The Australian market finished higher on Friday with the banking sector carrying the weight of the index.
At the close of trade, the S&P/ASX 200 index was up 13.80 points or 0.24 percent at 5,799.60, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 13.70 points or 0.24 percent at 5,841.20.
"Today it was all about banks, they put the bulk of the points into the market," IG chief market strategist, Chris Weston told Xinhua.
"I think maybe some overseas leads from wall street have filtered through to here."
The rest of the index saw very mixed results.
"It's all a bit messy to be honest, it's coming up to quarter end and you tend to get a few weird and wonderful things going on in the market," he said.
The commonwealth Bank edged higher at 0.07 percent, National Australia Bank added 0.72 percent, Westpac climbed 0.79 percent and ANZ also made gains at 0.22 percent.
BHP Billiton fell 0.96 percent, Rio Tinto lifted 0.72 percent, Fortescue Metals dropped 1.17 percent and Newcrest was up 1.32 percent.
Woodside Petroleum added 0.26 percent, Santos slipped 0.40 percent and Oil Search was also down 0.29 percent.
Wesfarmers lost 0.64 percent and Woolworths finished 0.88 percent lower.
Qantas climbed 0.80 percent, Telstra lost 0.84 percent and CSL finished down 0.69 percent.
