The S&P/ASX 200 zigzagged through most of the day but finished nine points higher at 5392.

The basic materials sector was one of the best performers, up 1.5%.

The mixed performance came on the back of the latest minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy meeting, which sketched out a period of stable interest rates moving forward.

The RBA said growth for Australia’s major trading partners looked like it would increase slightly above average in 2014, while growth in the domestic economy seemed to have been a bit below trend in the second half of 2013.

It said China’s growth had remained a little over its target of 7.5% but iron ore prices were expected to decline as global capacity expanded further.

The big miners put in a good performance today, with BHP Billiton up 2.3% to $A38.89 after posting better than expected half-year results.

Rio Tinto was also up 1.9% to $70.88.

Big movements came from tantalum hopeful Pilbara Minerals, which was up more than 40% at one stage before finishing 14.3% higher at 1.6c after completing a feasibility study on the Tabba Tabba project.

Diversified explorer Argent Minerals gained 16.3% to 5.7c and Marathon Resources rose 19% to 2.5c.

Macphersons Resources was up 10.4% to 21c after releasing a drilling update at the Nimbus project, while Macmahon Holdings moved 12% higher to 14c after releasing positive half-year results.

Some of the bigger falls came from Kingsgate Consolidated, which dropped 12.5% to $1.35 on the back of its half-year results, while Traka Resources fell 15.4% to 5.5c.

Zenith Minerals was also down 15.4% to 9.3c and Coppermoly fell 13% to 2c.