The Australian share market started the day higher on Monday, with solid performances from the financial and healthcare sectors, making up for the weakness in the materials and information technology sectors.

At 10:47 a.m. AEST, the main S&P/ASX 200 index was up 27.20 points, or 0.48 percent, to 5,722.20 points, while the wider-ranged All Ordinaries index was 25.20 points higher, or 0.44 percent, to be 5,781.00 points.

There were some big movers in the early action on Monday, with retailer Kogan (up 8.68 percent), telco Vocus (up 3.62 percent), and Sundance Energy (up 6.12 percent) all outperforming the bourse - while Aconex (down 4.26 percent), Yowie (down 5.41 percent), and ST Barbara (down 3.16 percent) all had a rough start to the trading day.

In the banking majors there was some positive early action this morning, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (up 0.73 percent), Westpac (up 0.95 percent), the ANZ (up 0.74 percent), and the National Australia Bank (up 1.20 percent).

The miners were mixed, with BHP (up 0.08 percent), Rio Tinto (down 0.58 percent), Fortescue (down 2.61 percent), and Newcrest (down 0.58 percent) mostly starting the day weak.

In oil and gas, the higher price of crude helped Woodside (up 0.28 percent), PNG-focussed Oil Search (up 1.03 percent), and Santos (up 0.51 percent) all make gains.

Grocery giant Woolworths (up 0.39 percent) started strong, while rivals Wesfarmers (up 0.02 percent) just scraped by with a gain at the open.

Telco giant Telstra (down 0.41 percent) had a sluggish start, while iconic airline Qantas (flat for no gain) sputtered.

One Australian dollar was buying 80.03 U.S. cents, while crude oil was trading at 49.84 U.S. dollars per barrel.