The Australian share market closed marginally higher after rising back into the black in the final minutes of trading, and the share price index futures contract ticked over from March delivery to June. Defensive stocks such as telecommunications, utilities and consumer staples fared best although mining stocks capped their gains despite higher commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 9.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 4,863.1 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 10.8 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 4,877.7 points. The March share price index contract expired, finishing 25 points higher at 4,879 points on volume of 10,127 contracts. Rio Tinto was 29 cents higher at $76.99. Fellow mining giant BHP Billiton was down 14 cents to $43.16, after saying it was cautious about the state of the world economy and warned governments to be careful about tax changes and winding back stimulus packages.

Telstra was four cents or 1.28 per cent higher at $3.17 while Singapore Telecommunications, the owner of Optus was two cents lower at $2.49. In the energy sector, Woodside was 45 cents stronger at $46.25, Oil Search inched one cent lower to $5.87 and Santos fell 12 cents to $14.22. AGL Energy was nine cents firmer $14.97 and Origin Energy gave up 15 cents to $16.50. Making headlines on Thursday, Kathmandu confirmed guidance for full year earnings after a net loss of $8.75 million in its inaugural half year as a listed company after counting the cost of its initial public offering. Shares in the adventure and travel products retailer leapt 17 cents, or 9.77 per cent, to $1.91. Sigma Pharmaceuticals says it's unlikely to be able to pay a dividend in the second half of its fiscal year due to a material reduction in the carrying amount of goodwill and writedowns. Sigma has been suspended from trading since March 1, when it traded last at 90 cents.

Internet service provider iiNet says it is confident it will not only succeed in defending an appeal in its court stoush over illegal downloading but that it will emerge in an even stronger position. Shares in iiNet were steady at $2.45. Among retailers, Coles owner Wesfarmers inched one cent higher to $31.11, Woolworths was four cents firmer at $28.76 and upmarket department store chain David Jones eased four cents to $5.09. In the consumer discretionary space, Coca Cola Amatil put on eight cents to $11.24. Key gold mining stocks were mixed. Lihir was up four cents at $3.15 while Newcrest retreated 16 cents to $33.97. The top-traded stock by volume was Telstra, with 117.7 million shares worth $374.3 million changing hands. Preliminary market turnover was 2.7 billion shares worth almost $7billion, with 556 stocks up, 485 down and 413 unchanged.

The Australian dollar closed higher Thursday but it pulled back from its session highs on a report Greece may seek aid from the International Monetary Fund over the April 2-4 Easter weekend. According to a report by Dow Jones Newswires quoting Greek officials, Greece now holds out little hope for aid next week from the European Union. Disappointed that meetings by senior EU and euro-group officials this week failed to produce steps to help Athens, the Greek government is now looking with scant optimism toward an EU summit next week, the official told Dow Jones Newswires. The report knocked the Australian dollar down from earlier levels that were just below two-month highs. The currency had earlier been buoyed by fresh speculation the Reserve Bank of Australia could raise interest rates again as early as April. Noted RBA-watcher and News Ltd. newspaper columnist Terry McCrann overnight corrected an article published Wednesday, saying he had erroneously stated he saw the RBA keeping rates on hold next month. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.9213, up from $0.9183 late Tuesday. Against the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar was at 83.05, up from 82.12. Economic data Thursday included imports, which rose a seasonally-adjusted 2.0% in February, clawing back a 4.2% fall in January.