The Australian sharemarket closed half a per cent higher, buoyed by the big banks and a major restructure by Boral, one of the nation's biggest manufacturers.
At the close today, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 21.8 points, or 0.46 per cent higher at 4738.4, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 22 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 4765.
On the ASX 24, the March share price index futures contract was 16 points higher at 4708, with 25,085 contracts traded.
Building products manufacturer Boral hit an 18-month high after it announced a company-wide restructure involving the loss of 700 jobs.
Its shares shot up 44c, or 10.1 per cent, to $4.80.
EL&C Baillieu Stockbroking director Richard Morrow said market sentiment shifted swiftly on Wednesday amid thin trading volumes.
"Having a big manufacturing business like Boral bite the bullet on the Aussie dollar and start to make structural readjustment, then that can and usually does lead to the same sort of thing happening in other sectors," Mr Morrow said.
"It's caught a lot of investors by surprise and sparked a lot of short covering in that stock and that's gravitated out into other stocks."
Banking and other high-yielding stocks were also driving the market higher.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia was the stand-out, up 54c to $62.29, Westpac up 7c to $26.43, NAB up 14c to $25.85 and ANZ up 9c to $25.36.
Mining stocks were weaker, with BHP Billiton down 28c to $36.25 and Rio Tinto down 35c to $65.55.
Stocks in embattled surfwear brand Billabong were also weaker, following a 16 per cent surge yesterday after news of a second takeover offer for the company.
US retailer VF Corporation - which owns The North Face and Timberland outdoor clothing brands - and US-based Altamont Capital Partners have offered $1.10 a share for the business and will undertake due diligence.
The offer matches the one made by the Sycamore consortium led by US-based Billabong executive Paul Naude in December.
Billabong was 1.5c lower at 96.5c, down from yesterday's peak of 99.5c.
Defensive stock Telstra was 4c higher at $5.60.
National turnover was 1.4 billion shares worth $3.3 billion with 573 shares higher, 378 lower and 358 unchanged.
