THE sharemarket recovered strongly from a six-month low,with the resources sector leading gains after the People's Bank of China vowed to prevent a credit crunch in Australia's biggest trading partner and the world's second-largest economy.

In the resources sector,BHP Billiton,Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum rose between 1.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent.

High-yield stocks also jumped,with the four major banks rising between 1.7 per cent and 2.0 per cent,Macquarie Group up 3.8 per cent and Telstra 2.9 per cent higher.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed 1.6 per cent higher at 4731.7 after hitting a three-day high of 4749.7 in early trading.

After falling 12 per cent since May 15,the index formed a so-called"morning star"reversal pattern on candlestick charts watched by technical analysts.

Yet value was a moderate$5 billion.

"Volume is the missing ingredient,"said CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy."But there's buying interest just below current levels."