SYDNEY, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market has started the day slightly higher on Friday, with a burst of activity at the bell, which lulled somewhat as the first hour progressed.
At 10:56 a.m. (AEST), the main S&P/ASX 200 index was 12.20 points higher, or 0.22 percent, to 5,667.60 points, while the wider-ranged All Ordinaries index was 8.60 points up, or 0.15 percent, to be 5,725.30 points.
There were some big upward movers early on, with Atrum Coal (up 11.77 percent), G8 Education (up 3.81 percent), and Sino Gas (up 3.41 percent) all outperforming the bourse - while Galaxy Resources (down 3.85 percent), Seven Group (down 3.05 percent), and Vita Group (down 2.86 percent) all had a rough start.
In the banking majors, mostly strong as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (up 0.75 percent), Westpac (up 0.35 percent), and the National Australia Bank (up 0.58 percent) made gains, while the ANZ (down 0.27 percent) fell early.
The miners were mixed, with BHP (up 0.37 percent), Rio Tinto (up 1.38 percent), Fortescue (down 0.77 percent), and Newcrest (down 2.47 percent).
In oil and gas, mixed results as Woodside (up 0.28 percent), and PNG-focussed Oil Search (up 0.44 percent) lifted early, while Santos (down 0.63 percent) fell.
Grocery giant Woolworths (down 0.69 percent) struggled, while rivals Wesfarmers (up 0.02 percent) had a modest gain.
Telco giant Telstra (up 1.55 percent) started to gain back ground towards their true value, while iconic airline Qantas (up 0.17 percent) also lifted.
One Australian dollar was buying 79.09 U.S. cents, while crude oil was trading at 50.63 U.S. dollars per barrel.
