The Australian market finished the week on an encouraging note following a positive lead from Wall Street overnight.

Wall Street gains were attributed to better-than-expected jobless claims, and a fairly positive Italian bond auction.

The major banks ended in positive territory, with CBA climbing 1.6%, and ANZ recording a 0.9% gain.

The mining sector also ended the day above water with Rio Tinto achieving a 0.7% rise and rival BHP putting on 0.9%. Fortescue recovered some of yesterday's losses, jumping 2.8%

However Fairfax was in trouble from the open after John B Fairfax severing his ties with the media giant overnight. The stock tumbled over 7% for the day.

The ASX 200 gained 52 points (+1.2%), settling at 4297. Today's gain helped drag the market up 0.4% for the week.

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Evening Market Analysis: Expecting the Unexpected is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog