At lunchtime on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 40.8 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 7,669, while the broader All Ordinaries had risen 38.8 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 7,934.7.
After sinking into negative territory for the month on Thursday, the ASX200 looked like it might finish marginally higher, defying the adage "sell in May and go away".
With a few hours of trading left it was up 0.08 per cent, since the start of May, but down 0.75 per cent since the start of the week.
IG analyst Tony Sycamore said that all eyes would be on the ASX200 on Friday to see if it could indeed finish above 7,664.1, to avoid its second straight month of declines. But from a technical perspective it also needs a prompt rebound to around 7,720, otherwise it risks a deeper pullback.
At midday the tech and materials sectors were down slightly, while every other sector was higher.
Health care was the biggest mover, up 1.1 per cent, as Pro Medicus climbed 2.8 per cent and Telix Pharmaceuticals soared 13.7 per cent to an all-time high of $17.89 on the back of some positive data from a small clinical trial evaluating its potential prostate cancer treatment.
Also, Avita Medical had gained 12.4 per cent to $2.99 after receiving US approval for an advancement in its spray-on skin treatment for burn victims.Â
All of the big retail banks were higher, with CBA up 0.6 per cent and Westpac, NAB and ANZ all adding 0.3 per cent.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP was down 0.7 per cent and Fortescue had fallen 2.0 per cent, while Rio Tinto had added 0.3 per cent.
The Australian dollar was buying 66.30 US cents, from 65.97 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.
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