Aust shares gaining ground as banking fears ease

The Australian share market has moved higher this morning in a busy day for M&A activity, after the acquisition by Silicon Valley Bank by a US rival helped calm turmoil in the banking space and restore investors' risk appetite.

At noon AEDT on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 79.5 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 7,041.1, while the All Ordinaries was up 81.9 points, 1.15 per cent, to 7,226.1.

In the United States overnight, regional bank First Citizens agreed to buy $US72 billion ($A108 billion) in deposits and loans from Silicon Valley Bank at a deep discount after federal regulators agreed to share in its losses.

Closer to home, markets were digesting the release of Australian retail sales figures for February showing that spending rose 0.2 per cent in February, in line with expectations.

Seven of the ASX's 11 official sectors were up at midday and four were down.

Energy was the biggest gainer, recouping Monday's losses with a 3.9 per cent gain after Brent crude hit a nearly two-week high of $US78 ($A117) a barrel as the banking crisis loses steam.

Woodside was up 4.7 per cent to $32.96, Santos was up 3.5 per cent to $6.975 and Whitehaven Coal had added 5.5 per cent to $6.73.

Origin Energy had added 0.9 per cent to $8.24 as international private equity firms Brookfield and EIG Partners signed a binding agreement to acquire Australia's largest utility for $18.7 billion.

The heavyweight mining sector was up 2.3 per cent as BHP gained 1.6 per cent to $44.255, Rio Tinto had gained 1.1 per cent to $114.99, and Fortescue had added 1.5 per cent to $20.625.

Liontown Resources had soared 59.7 per cent to an all-time high of $2.435 after the lithium miner announced it had rejected a tentative takeover offer from US-based Albemarle Corp, the world's biggest lithium producer, for $2.50 a share. Liontown said it had previously rejected two lower offers from Albemarle at lower valuations.

In the consumer staples sector, United Malt Group had rocketed 31.1 per cent to a 14-month high of $4.51 after the commercial maltster announced it had opened its books to France's Malteries Soufflet, which has made a tentative takeover overture at $5 per share.

The financial sector had gained 1.3 per cent, with all of the Big Four banks in the green.

Westpac and NAB had both gained 1.4 per cent, to $21.52 and $27.77, respectively, while ANZ was up 1.3 per cent to $22.725 and CBA had advanced 1.1 per cent to $96.14.