Australian stocks are making gains with most sectors ahead.

The Australian share market is following a positive lead from Wall Street, where the major indices shrugged off disappointing jobs numbers to finish more than one per cent higher on Friday.

Morgans Stanley private client adviser Alistair McCorquodale said the local market appeared to have settled down after hitting a year-low 5,070 points last Wednesday.

“It is a risk-on day,” he told AAP.

The miners were in the green, BHP Billiton was up 34 cents to $36.43, Rio Tinto was 75 cents higher at $66.71 and gold miner Newcrest Mining had surged 54 cents, or 5.2 per cent, to $10.91.

Retailers were making losses, with both major supermarket owners down. Woolworths had fallen 38 cents to $34.59 and Wesfarmers had dropped 21 cents to $42.24.

Investors had punished insurance comparison website iSelect after it said it would take a $1 million to $2 million hit to revenue and earnings after agreeing a new car insurance deal at lower commission rates.

The stock was down by 7.0 cents, or 5.2 per cent, to $1.28.

KEY FACTS

* At 1225 AEDT on Monday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had climbed 26.4 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 5,192.9 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 25.8 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,210.3 points.

* The March share price index futures contract was 22 points higher at 5,144, with 14,095 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 698.1 million securities worth $1.4 billion.