The lifters
Pilbara Minerals was the biggest large-cap advancer,rising 4.4 per cent,followed by Mercury Energy (up 3.6 per cent) and pharmaceutical wholesaler EBOS Group,which finished 3 per cent stronger.
Mining heavyweight Rio Tinto was up 1.9 per cent,after it flagged on Wednesday it was open to potentiallylarge-scale takeover opportunities to boost its supplies of copper in expectation of soaring demand.
BHP was trading 0.5 per cent higher and iron ore miner Fortescue rose 0.6 per cent,following its announcement Australian indigenous leader Noel Pearson had joined its board as a non-executive director.