THE sharemarket jumped after Cyprus reached an in-principle agreement with the troika of international lenders on key parameters of a financial bailout, according to an EU official.
Under the agreement, Cyprus' Laiki Bank would be split into "good" and "bad" banks. S&P/ASX 200 is up 1 per cent at 5016, with major banks up between 1 per cent and 1.8 per cent, BHP up 0.7 per cent and Rio Tinto up 0.9 per cent.
Leighton jumps 5.2 per cent after appointing independent director Bob Humphris as chairman.
Westfield gains 2.2 per cent as it stands to make about US$700 million from a Florida Malls joint venture with O'Connor Capital.
Major banks rose between 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent despite CIMB's downgrade of NAB and the banking sector.
Karoon Gas dives 9 per cent after Brazilian oil exploration well disappoints.
