The Australian share market has risen, led by a surge in Sydney Airport shares.

By 12:00pm AEST, the ASX 200 was 0.1 per cent higher at 7,316.8 points.

Shares in Sydney Airport leapt more than 30 per cent to $7.58.

The company, one of the firms most directly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, has received a takeover offer.

The airport said the unsolicited proposal was lobbed by a consortium, including the investment manager for industry super funds IFM Investors, QSuper and Global Infrastructure Management.

The offer of $8.25 per share is worth more than $22 billion.

While the price is well above the $5.81 Sydney Airport shares closed at on Friday, the company noted that it was below its pre-pandemic share price.

In December 2019, Sydney Airport shares were trading close to $9.

"[The proposal] has been made during a global pandemic which has deeply affected the aviation industry and the Sydney Airport security price," it said.

"The boards are undertaking detailed analysis of, amongst other things, whether the proposal is reflective of the underlying value of the airport."

The members of the consortium behind the offer already invest in airports, with IFM holding stakes in airports in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, while QSuper owns a stake in London's Heathrow Airport and Global Infrastructure is invested in London's Gatwick and City airports.

The offer is contingent on UniSuper, currently Sydney Airport's largest shareholder with a 15 per cent stake, agreeing to reinvest its interest for an equivalent equity holding in the consortium's investment vehicle, rather than receiving cash.

In a statement, UniSuper said it was not privy to any details of the proposal, but said it did,  "in-principle, see merit in Sydney Airport being converted from a publicly listed company to an unlisted company".

The industry super fund said it had a "favourable view" of the consortium and would make a decision after considering all the details.

ASX follows Wall Street higher

The broader share market was on the rise in early trade but ran out of some steam two hours into the session, to be just slightly higher.

Bank stocks were in the red while mining and consumer stocks were mixed.

Sydney Airport led the industrials sector higher, while education, utilities and energy stocks also made gains.

Auckland International Airport (+6.7pc) was also among the top performers following the news of the Sydney Airport offer.

Other travel-related stocks, including Flight Centre (+2.9pc), Webjet (+2.7pc), Corporate Travel Management (+2.9pc) and Qantas (+1.4pc), rose despite cases of COVID-19 continuing to be reported in Sydney and other cities.

The worst performers of the session so far were Nuix (-4.5pc), Tabcorp (-4.7pc) and Nine Entertainment (-5.2pc).

The Australian dollar was slightly weaker against the greenback, buying around 75.1 US cents.

On Friday, US stocks made gains, with the Dow Jones (+0.4pc), the S&P 500 (+0.8pc) and the Nasdaq (+0.8pc) all closing higher.

Global stocks rose after the monthly US jobs report signaled a strong end to the second quarter in the country's economy.

US non-farm payroll jobs increased by 850,000 last month, but the total is 6.8 million below its peak in February 2020

NAB economist Tapas Strickland said it was a "goldilocks" report for markets, with just enough good news, but not too much to add to worries that stimulus would be wound back sooner than expected.

"The goldilocks bit of this report was the unemployment rate, which rose (not fell) to 5.9 per cent from 5.8 per cent, against expectations for a fall to 5.6 per cent," he said.

ABC/Reuters