The S&P/ASX 200 was up 2% or 83.1 points to 4206.7 after closing lower at 4123.6 in yesterday’s trade.

Similarly, the ASX All Ordinaries closed 2% higher at 4236.4 points.

This morning, the National Australia Bank’s Quarterly Business Survey revealed there had been deteriorating business confidence in the June quarter as more businesses became consumed with the implications of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and the carbon tax.

The survey stated conditions across most industries had deteriorated with construction and manufacturing representing particularly weak sectors.

NAB said mining conditions had deteriorated significantly since September quarter 2011, which was consistent with a softening in commodity prices over the same period.

Western Australia recorded the strongest conditions of the mainland states, while fellow resource-driven Queensland experienced the weakest conditions, alongside Victoria.

“While the divergence between the stronger mining and service-based service sectors and the weaker consumer and trade dependent sectors narrowed a little in the June quarter, largely due to softening commodity prices, the multi-speed economy remained fundamentally intact,” the NAB said.

After taking a hit yesterday, the basic materials equities index rose to 2.7% and most miners were trading higher.

Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto recovered from small price dips on Wednesday, with Rio 6.6c stronger at $53.36 and BHP up 9.2c to $31.10.

Global iron ore rival, Vale posted a June quarter production record of 80.5 million tonnes and stated its current output pace was tracking at 1.5 billion tonnes per annum.

Shares in Fortescue Metals Group gained 4.6% to $4.60.

Coal and uranium-focused junior Wildhorse Energy had a good run with shares bolting 12.5% to 8.1c following news the Hungarian government agreed to legislative and regulatory framework to develop the UCG projects.

Finally, Vector Resources entered a trading halt as it undertook a capital raising.