Major Australian resource stocks puffed out their chests today and defied the global equity sell-off, with 16 of the top 20 Australian resource stocks by market capitalisation ending the day higher.
The broader market has less strength, evidenced by a modest 13 point rally in the All Ordinaries to 4635.
Aurora Oil & Gas (ASX: AUT) was the stand out performer and added 3.7%, as the market welcomed the company's news regarding the Eagle Ford - Sugarkane Field Operations and Production Update.
Not to be outdone, Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) received some support with a 3% gain which has helped the uranium producer make up some of the lost ground over the last couple of months, as uranium stocks globally have been re-rated down due to uncertainties around the energy development method following the Japanese earthquake.
Highlighting the strength of the big resources sector, another six companies added more than 2%, which included Oil Search (ASX: OSH), Gloucester Coal (ASX: GCL), OZ Minerals DEF (ASX: OZLDA), Macarthur Coal (ASX: MCC), Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG) and Mount Gibson Iron (ASX: MGX).
Gainers of more than one per cent included Alumina (ASX: AWC), Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) and Atlas Iron (ASX: AGO).
Just making it into the green, all five of Equinox Minerals (ASX: EQN), New Hope Corporation (ASX: NHC), Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) and Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) traded less than one per cent higher.
It wasn't all joy for the sector, with major rare earth play Lynas Corporation (ASX: LYC) sold off to the tune of 1.4%.
The other fallers were only modest, with all three of Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG), Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL) and Santos (ASX: STO) easing by less than half of one per cent.
Of the resource focused indices, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials added 0.5% and S&P/ASX 200 Energy gained 0.4%.
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