Australian shares advance off the blocks in 2009 By: MarketWatch January 01, 2009 at 19:59 PM EST Australian shares advanced Friday on the first trading day of 2009 on energy-related stocks such as Woodside Petroleum and BHP Billiton. Read More >> Related Stocks: Bhp Billiton Ltd ADR Commonwealth Bk of A Dow Jones Industrial Average (EOD) Woodside Energy Group Ltd