SYDNEY, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market has finished higher on Wednesday with the material and financial sectors driving the action.
At the close of trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 23.90 points or 0.36 percent at 6,638.00, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 24.10 points or 0.36 percent at 6,752.10.
Despite steep falls in consumer staples, info tech and healthcare stocks, CMC Markets' Chief Market strategist Michael McCarthy told investors that a rise in the price of iron ore and other industrial metals overnight has managed to buoy the sentiment of traders today.
In the financial space, Australia's big banks jumped with the Commonwealth Bank up (0.89 percent), Westpac Bank up (1.68 percent), National Australia Bank up (1.09 percent) and ANZ up (0.85 percent).
Mining stocks also rallied with BHP up (1.65 percent), Rio Tinto up (2.29 percent), Fortescue Metals up (1.98 percent) and gold miner Newcrest up (0.06 percent).
The country's oil and gas producers slumped with Woodside Petroleum down (0.43 percent), Santos down (3.26 percent) and Oil Search down (0.54 percent).
Australia's largest supermarket chains saw mixed results with Wesfarmers up (0.88 percent) and Woolworths down (2.79 percent).
While telecommunications giant Telstra was unchanged (0.00 percent), the national carrier Qantas surged (1.97 percent) and biomedical firm CSL sank (0.67 percent). Enditem
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