Australian share market slightly higher, drop in energy

The local share market has risen modestly higher, with every sector in the green except for energy.

At noon on Monday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 20.9 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6,976.1, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 23.8 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 7,161.4.

Retail sales data announced by NAB a half-hour earlier showed that retail sales picked up in February, rising 1.3 per cent month-on-month after returning to growth in January. 

The utility sector was the biggest gainer at midday, rising 1.7 per cent as Origin Energy climbed 2.7 per cent on reports that Brookfield and EIG Partners' $18.2 billion takeover offer for the utility would be finalised this week. The Australian Financial Review reported that top executives for the two firms were flying into Sydney to sign the deal and meet with regulators.

Pub owner Endeavour Group was up 2.8 per cent to a six-week high of $6.92 after Labor won the NSW election over the weekend, easing investor fears of a statewide rollout of cashless gaming machines and potentially burdensome rules around problem gambling.

Star Entertainment was up 0.7 per cent to $1.455, with the election having possible consequences for the billion-dollar tax hike on its Sydney casino announced by the NSW in December.

Latitude Group was down 3.7 per cent to $1.165 after the consumer finance company announced it had identified 7.9 million customer driver licence numbers stolen in the hack of its systems detected a fortnight ago.

Pathology clinic chain Healius was up 0.5 per cent and Australian Clinical Labs was down 3.6 per cent after two major Healius shareholders announced they were not in favour of ACL's audacious $1.5 billion takeover offer for its larger competitor. 

Premier Investments was down 1.3 per cent to $25 despite the Smiggle and Peter Alexander owner beating expectations by growing sales 17.6 per cent for the 26 weeks to January 28.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP and Rio Tinto were both down 0.2 per cent while Fortescue had gained 0.8 per cent.

The big banks were mixed, with NAB and Westpac both up 0.7 per cent and ANZ gaining 0.4 per cent while CBA was down 0.3 per cent.

The energy sector was down 1.6 per cent, with Woodside falling 2.5 per cent as Brent crude prices hovered around $US75 a barrel.

In small cap news, Newcastle-based short-term rental company Alloggio Group had soared 47.4 per cent to 28c after agreeing to be purchased by Next Capital for 30c a share, or $35.5 million.

Also, ImpediMed had soared 55.9 per cent to a four-month high of 9.2c after a US cancer network recommended screening all cancer survivors at risk of lymphoedema with bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), such as via ImpediMed's SOZO device.