The Australian sharemarket has made a bright start to the week, with the big four banks moving higher and healthcare shares rebounding from Friday’s heavy losses.

The S&P/ ASX 200 climbed 56.5 points, or 0.6 per cent, higher to 8844.2 points, with eight of 11 industry sectors in positive territory.

Wall Street closed the week with a winning session. Credit: Bloomberg

Financial stocks were stronger, with shares in the big four banks higher in early trade. Commonwealth Bank – the biggest stock on the index – was up 1.8 per cent while Westpac (up 1.8 per cent), NAB (up 1.3 per cent) and ANZ (up 1 per cent) were all sharply higher.

Mining stocks were generally lower with iron ore heavyweights Rio Tinto (down 1.9 per cent), BHP (down 1.5 per cent) and Fortescue (down 2.1 per cent) retre

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