Iron ore miners are leading the share market higher after a bounce in Chinese iron ore spot prices on Friday.

The benchmark Chinese spot price for iron ore rose USD 2 on Friday, lifting it from recent lows to USD 89 a tonne. That has seen share prices for iron ore specialists rise strongly: Fortescue was up 3.3% to USD 3.42, Atlas Iron had gained 4% to USD 1.42 and BC Iron was up 2.3% to USD 2.70 around.

The major miners have also gained strongly, with Rio Tinto up 4% to USD 54.45 and BHP Billiton rising 1.8% to USD 32.56.

Gold miners have also gained strongly as the precious metals surged to almost USD 1,739 an ounce Newcrest was up 3.7% to USD 26.80.

Building materials maker Boral was down around 1% to USD 3.415 after ending a global search for a new chief executive with an internal appointment the president of the company's US division, Mike Kane, will take over running the whole company from October 1.

However, the major banks were trading generally flat to slightly lower, with the Commonwealth and Westpac off around 0.25%, while ANZ and NAB were up just 0.1%.

Retail giant Woolworths was also a big drag on the market, slipping 3.5 per cent trading ex-dividend that means investors who buy the shares from today will not have access to its latest 67 cent payment.

Source - www.abc.net.au

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