Australia share market propped as banks, Rio, BHP edge up

"It is a crisis of confidence in leaders of the world. No-one can trust anybody," said Lucinda Chan, division director at Macquarie.

"We preempted the slippage offshore (on Tuesday). Our market has been leading the global movement in the last few days," she said.

The underlying S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 26.9 points at 4,275 by 0155 GMT. It fell 0.8 percent on Tuesday after a 2.6 percent rally on Monday.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index climbed 0.7 percent to 3,296.4.

"Some of the reported (earnings) numbers have been pretty good. That's helping us hold up a little bit and is what's key today. The results aren't too bad," said Chan.

"The market is treading water, it's not running away too quickly. They're certainly not rushing in, no-one is," she added.

Woodside Petroleum , Australia's biggest oil and gas company, was close to flat at A$37.29 after it topped market forecasts with a rise in first-half profit, buoyed by higher oil prices, but gave no fresh guidance. See .

Top banks mostly gained, back in favour after earnings announcements by three of the top four lenders. Westpac Banking Corp led gains to be up 0.7 percent.

"If you shorted the market the last week, you were burnt. This week, if you are still short you'd be scrambling to buy back so maybe there's a bit of that still in this market. That's why the market is still holding," said Chan.

Brambles Ltd , the world's top pallet supplier, rose 3.8 percent to A$6.89 after it revealed plans to sell its document management business Recall and a 6 percent rise in full-year earnings, and predicted higher underlying earnings in 2012. See .

CSL Ltd , the world's No.2 blood products maker, fell 2.8 percent to A$29.49 after its 2011 earnings came in a touch below analyst forecasts and it said adverse currency movements could derail its guidance for 10 percent net profit growth in 2012. See .

Building materials group Boral fell 5.9 percent to A$3.65 after it agreed to buy out its Asian joint venture from French cement maker Lafarge for 429 million euros ($617.7 million) after reporting a big rebound in earnings on lower costs and fewer writedowns. See

Shopping mall operator Westfield fell 1.2 percent to A$8.04 after its first-half core earnings came in slightly below analysts' estimates but it kept its outlook for the full year unchanged. See .

Rio Tinto RIO.L rose 0.7 percent to A$73.92. Rio suspended operations at two mines in Australia accounting for about 6 percent of its total production following the fatality of a worker. See .

Rival BHP Billiton rose 0.3 percent to A$39.54.

New Zealand's largest listed company, Fletcher Building Ltd , rose 1.6 percent to A$7.85 after it posted a four percent rise in full year profit on Wednesday, and said it expected conditions to remain mixed across its key markets.AFP

New Zealand's largest casino operator Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd. rose 2 percent after a 4 percent rise in full year net profit.

Copyright Reuters, 2011