Aust market opens higher

THE Australian market has opened higher due to strong overseas leads and the falling Australian dollar.

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the local market was off to a positive start after Wall Street and European market posted strong gains overnight and the Australian dollar continued to slide.

"Capital goods, health care and financial services could go on a tear, with the dollar falling and will raise earnings optimism for the second half if stays underwater," Mr Lucas said.

The Australian dollar remained below parity at 99.10 US cents and continued to fall.

Health care stocks all opened in positive territory.

Primary Health Care jumped 10 cents to $5.13, CSL surged $1.44 to $64.64 and Cochlear gained $1.04 to $73.67.

The four major banks also opened higher.

Commonwealth Bank leapt 71 cents to $72.80, after it said its third quarter profits were up 12 per cent to $1.9 billion.

Westpac added 28 cents to $32.03, ANZ jumped 20 cents to $30.09 and National Australia Bank gained 15 cents to $33.25.

The mining giants had a lacklustre opening.

BHP Billiton lost 30 cents to $34.37 after new chief executive Andrew Mackenzie, at a conference in Barcelona, signalled plans to slash capital spending by almost a fifth.

Rio Tinto dived 80 cents to $56.75 while Fortescue fell 8.5 cents to $3.655.

US stocks surged to new all-time closing highs on Tuesday on renewed optimism after a prominent hedge fund manager said the 2013 rally has further to go.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123.57 (0.82 per cent) to a record 15,215.25, while the S&P gained 1.1 per cent, or 16.57 points, to 1,650.36.

Leading European stock markets climbed while the euro edged lower against the US dollar as traders welcomed German investor sentiment data and digested corporate results.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed up 0.82 per cent at 6,686.06 points.

KEY FACTS

* At 1022 AEST on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 15.8 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,236.4, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 14 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 5,216.5.

On the ASX 24, the June share price index futures contract was up 17 points at 5,215.5, with 8,403 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 207.42 million securities worth $406.3 million.

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