The Australian stockmarket started the week in positive territory, despite mixed leads from international shares on Friday.

Our market was buoyed by the People’s Bank of China cutting the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points to 20%, adding another 400 billion Yuan to the system.

Most sectors finished stronger; materials and energy were the only exceptions.

The big four banks were stronger on the day; CBA and NAB were the best performers of the group, putting on 1.9% and 1% respectively.

Westpac was down 2.9% but the loss was attributed to the stock going ex-dividend.

The mining majors were mixed amid weaker commodity prices; BHP added 0.3%, whilst rival Rio Tinto let go of 0.1%.

Incitec Pivot advanced 0.3% after announcing a 1H FY12 profit of $143.5 million, a 20% fall from the previous corresponding half. The rise was due to a positive outlook for the company.

The ASX 200 put on 12 points (+0.3%) to close at 4297.

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Evening Market Analysis: Positive Close is a post from: Australian Stock Report Market Pulse Blog