The Australian sharemarket stayed in the green in early afternoon trade, led by the mining heavyweights, after Wall Street hit fresh records overnight and the price of gold was pushing further past $US4000 per ounce.

The S&P/ASX 200 was up 12.4 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 8960 at 1.40pm AEDT, with six of its 11 industry sectors trading higher. The gains come after three sessions in the red on the local bourse. The Australian dollar traded at US65.95¢ as of 1.25pm.

Mining stocks powered the market’s gains, with iron ore giants BHP, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto all up strongly, gaining 2.4 per cent, 1.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

Gold miners were mixed after bullion dipped slightly after its massive rally this week, with buyer fatigue setting in after the recent gains. Nor

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