Australian shares broke a six day losing streak today with the All Ordinaries index rising 23 points or 0.51 per cent in early trading to 5154 but falling back later in the day to close up 9.6 points to 5140.6.

The strength follows a small rally in the oil market overnight when US West Texas crude prices rose one per cnet to $US55.93 ($A68.04) a barrel.

It comes after a wild night on Wall St which saw the US market close down after earlier rises and also follows solid rises of more than two per cent in the UK and Europe after Russia pushed up interest rates to 17 per cent.

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The energy sector was a leader up with industrials and banks falling.

The market ran out of steam towards the end of the day as more bad economic news emerged.