Australian share market finished first session of penultimate week of calendar year 2016 firmly in green, buoyed by easing concerns of its coveted AAA credit rating downgrade after sticking to its ambition of returning the budget to surplus in 2020-21 despite softer growth forecasts. In a mid-year fiscal update, the government revised down the nation's cash deficit of A$37.1 billion in 2016-17 -- as announced in the May budget -- to A$36.5 million. But it forecast widening deficits in the next three years before a return to surplus. Standard and Poor's said on Monday that no immediate effect on its top AAA rating stance but warned the "government's worsening forecast fiscal position further pressures the rating". Moody's and Fitch also kept their ratings on hold, for now. At the closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index inclined 29.20 points, or 0.53%, to 5562.10, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 23.10 points, or 0.41%, to close at 5612.80.
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