Aust shares open higher

The Australian share market had made strong gains in opening trade as investors snap up cheaper stocks following recent falls.

Comments overnight from the Federal Reserve Bank's St Louis president Jamie Bullard suggesting that the US not scale back its asset purchase stimulus program at the end of this month have driven gains.

IG market strategist Stan Shamu said the gains in Australian shares this week showed investors had tempered their worries about geopolitical threats and the Ebola virus which has killed more than 4,500 people.

"US bond yields have come off quite significantly and a lot of investors are quite happy to look at buying some of these dips as well," he told AAP.

Big lenders are driving the gains.

The Commonwealth Bank had risen 84.5 cents to $76.775, ANZ was up 41 cents at $31.99, Westpac gained 48 cents to $33.21 and National Australia Bank was 28 cents higher at $33.16.

Among the major miners, BHP Billiton added 15 cents to $33.48, Rio Tinto had dropped 2.5 cents to $59.86.5 and Fortescue Metals was one cent weaker at $3.41.

Oil and gas producer Santos was 27 cents higher at $12.91 after releasing a quarterly production report.

Santos lifted September quarter production to 14 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) and sales revenue was also up nine per cent to $1.06 billion.

KEY FACTS

• At 1035 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 47.9 points, or 0.91 per cent, at 5,302.8 points.

• The broader All Ordinaries index was up 44.7 points, or 0.85 per cent, at 5,289 points.

• The December share price index futures contract was up 52 points at 5,283 points, with 15,008 contracts traded.

• National turnover was 258.9 million securities worth $636 million.