Aust share market closes higher The Australian share market has closed at a new five-and-a-half-year high, after US and European markets lifted at the end of last week as US government services were re-opened. IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the Australian market had taken its lead from stronger markets in the US. Investors were no longer facing a wall of worry now that the US had at least temporarily resolved its budget and debt ceiling impasse, and China's economic growth was accelerating. "This is basically following on from what we saw over in the US on Friday night," Mr Lucas said. He Lucas said investors were focusing on Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank which would soon be reporting their annual financial results. "They are three of the top five companies on the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange)," he said. They do tend to rally quite hard before their results. That will probably be a fairly big driver of our market over the next week even if we do see a bit of weakness in Europe and the US tonight. Mr Lucas said US economic data that was prevented from publication because of the US government shutdown would be released this week and would also influence the Australian market. The US non-farm payroll and jobless figures for September, which will be released on Tuesday night, would be the key data. On the local bourse in the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was 45 cents higher at $36.20, Rio Tinto was up 30 cents at $63.75, and Fortescue Metals Group lifted 15 cents to $5.45. Among the major banks, Westpac advanced eight cents to $34.08, ANZ improved 26 cents to $32.12, National Australia eased one cent to $35.97, and Commonwealth Bank jumped 38 cents to $74.55. Takeover target Warrnambool Cheese and Butter gained 22 cents to $8.11 as it said it would seek shareholder approval to grant $175,000 in performance rights to its chief executive despite opposition from suitor Bega Cheese. Private hospitals operator Ramsay Health Care rose 30 cents to $37.15 after it said it was in talks to acquire Medipsy, which has the largest number of psychiatric clinics in France. And in news after the market closed on Monday, retailer David Jones announced the resignation of its chief executive Paul Zahra. David Jones shares closed two cents higher at $2.85. On Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 30.3 points, or 0.57 per cent, higher at 5,351.8 points. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 30.5 points, or 0.57 per cent, at 5,351.5 points. The December share price index futures contract was 15 points higher at 5,336 points, with 19,238 contracts traded. National turnover was 1.56 billion securities worth $3.08 billion. The price of gold in Sydney was $US1,321.525 per fine ounce, up $US4.025 on Friday's closing price of $US1,317.50.