THE Australian market has opened higher, with gains in all sectors but retail.
RBS Morgans private client adviser Bill Bishop said the market was off to a promising start considering it had only received modest overseas leads.
"Here, we have strength across the board except for the retail stocks,'' he said. "The banks and resources are all up.''
The ASX200 rose 0.4 per cent to 4953.4 in early trading.
National Australia Bank jumped 22 cents to $31.67, while Westpac added 11 cents to $31.34, ANZ gained nine cents to $28.50 and Commonwealth Bank surged 38 cents to $69.15.
Rio Tinto gained 43 cents to $54.75 and Newcrest was up eight cents to $16.73. But Fortescue dropped 3.5 cents to $3.735 and BHP Billiton slipped nine cents to $31.31.
Wesfarmers shares opened 17 cents down at $41.59 and at 1042 AEST Woolworths shares were 18 cents lower at $35.31.
Harvey Norman shares also fell, 3.5 cents to $2.705.
US stocks closed slightly higher on Friday after a series of mixed earnings reports arrived into a market pre-occupied with the manhunt for the Boston marathon bombers.
European equities mostly rose, mirroring gains in Asia, as investors eyed the G20 summit and upcoming IMF and World Bank spring meetings focused on global economic strains.
