The Australian sharemarket has begun trading in the new financial year with gains with investors appearing happy to take a break from the recent sell-offs.

The Greek debt crisis is not yet resolved but hope remains of a resolution with talks with Eurozone finance ministers ongoing.

“The broad macro theme for the market is still Greece but we may have reached a settling point where the market is going to wait it out,” CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.

The gains on the Australian market would have been greater if not for falls in the iron ore price to below $US60 a tonne hurting miners.

A flood of economic data releases this week will influence the ASX, including building approvals on Wednesday and trade and retail sales later in the week indicating how small business has reacted to the budget tax cuts.

Among the major banks, ANZ was up 35 cents to $32.55, Westpac had added 27 cents to $32.42, Commonwealth Bank had gained $1.17 to $86.30, and National Australia Bank had improved 35 cents to $33.66.

In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton had dropped 56 cents to $26.49, Rio Tinto had shed $1.00 to $52.75, and Fortescue Metals had dumped eight cents to $1.83.

Woodside Petroleum’s shares gained after a positive announcement that its Browse project is a step closer with design work starting on its floating liquefied natural gas technology.

Shares were 33.5 cents higher at $34.565.