On Wall Street, the S&P 500 jumped to its highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, bolstered by strong jobs data and reports that the service industries are growing rapidly.

Locally, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.2% higher to 4725, while the broader All Ordinaries finished 10.2 points higher to 4831.1 points.

On the London Metal Exchange, lead was the only metal to post a gain, rising 2% to $US2681 per tonne.

Nickel suffered the heaviest loss, down 1.6% to $24,710/t, while aluminium lost 0.8% to $2452.75/t.

Lower commodities may have weighed on miners early in the session but the two majors recovered in time for the closing bell.

After early losses, BHP Billiton closed 0.3% or A13c up to $45.14, while Rio Tinto finished 1.1% or 97c higher to $86.04.

MacArthur Coal was a standout among the top companies, rising 5% or 63c to $13.28, while Pilbara player Fortescue Metals Group jumped 3.3% or 21c to $6.61.

Big movers among the smaller companies were China Yunnan Copper Australia and joint venture partner Goldsearch after the two announced a rare earths discovery at the Mount Dorothy-Mary Kathleen project in Queensland.

China Yunnan closed 66% or 14.5c up to 36.5c, while Goldsearch’s shares doubled in value to 6.6c.

Legacy Iron Ore jumped 10% to 9.9c and released a statement confirming it is in talks with Indian state-owned National Mineral Development Corp over its iron ore assets.

Atlas Iron also said today NMDC was one of the parties in discussions with the group over its 2 billion tonne Ridley magnetite project.

Shares in Atlas closed 4c up to $3.01.

Finally, spot gold was last trading $US2 lower to $1376.25 per ounce.