At the close of trade the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 20.6 points or 0.43% to 4799 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 18.6 points or 0.38% to 4888.2 points and the S&P/ASX Metals and Mines index was 39 points or 0.75% higher to 5211.2 points.

Of the big miners, BHP Billiton gained 65c to reach $46.47 at the time of market close, Rio Tinto was up 42c to $87.20, Fortescue Metals Group dropped 7c to $6.76, while Paladin Energy lost 2c to $4.94 and OZ Minerals was unchanged at $1.735.

Indo Mines recorded the biggest share price gain of the day with its shares jumping nearly 30% to 36c after it announced a new major shareholder in the form of Rockcheck Steel Beijing Co, one of China’s largest privately owned iron and steel producers.

Subject to shareholder approval, Indo Mines will also issue up to a further 10 million shares at an issue price of 27c each to key existing institutional and strategic shareholders to raise $2.7 million before costs.

SMarket hares in iron ore explorer Pluton Resources also jumped nearly 18% to 99c after it announced it had secured a native title agreement for its Irvine Island project.

At market close the local unit was trading above parity at US100.02c, up from yesterday’s close of 99.72c, but down from the overnight high of 100.08c.

“There’s a belief among offshore investors that the Aussie dollar has reached its full potential, so that’s muting their interest in deploying more cash to Australian equities,” BBY senior institutional trader Peter Copeland was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as saying.

“That may change next year if China's economy remains robust and the US continues to recover.”

As for gold, it was up $2.55 at the time of market close to $1387.55 an ounce.

Of the big miners, Australia’s largest locally owned producer Newcrest Mining was up A5c to $40.28, while Kingsgate was up 11c to $10.72 after receiving Foreign Investment Review Board approval for its takeover of fellow Australian producer Dominion Mining.

As for commodities traded on the London Metal Exchange, these were somewhat mixed overnight, with lead and aluminium the only metals to report a jump in price of $6 to $US2440 a tonne and $27 to $2462/t respectively.

Nickel recorded the biggest drop, down $575 to $24,050/t, while tin lost $65 to reach $26,825/t, copper dropped $15 to $9350/t and zinc remained unchanged at $2330/t.