At 10:30 (AEST), the benchmark ASX 200 index was up 6.30 points or 0.09 percent at 6,720.40, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 9.70 points or 0.14 percent at 6,956.90.
Wall Street finished broadly higher with the exception of Nasdaq after the U.S. consumer prices (CPI) lifted 0.40 percent in February to be up 1.7 percent on a year ago.
"U.S. inflation data was slightly weaker than expected, supporting the Fed's accommodative stance and market sentiment," Westpac economist said in a morning note.
On the local bourse, consumer discretionary and industrials were leading gains. Travel names were lifting in particular on the Federal government's tourism package to encourage Australians to take domestic holidays.
On the other side, tech stocks and materials weighed.
In the financial space, the big banks were mixed with Commonwealth Bank down (0.04 percent), National Australia Bank up (0.19 percent), Westpac Bank up (0.04 percent) and ANZ down (0.39 percent).
Mining stocks were mostly lower with BHP down (2.79 percent), Rio Tinto down (1.54 percent), and Fortescue Metals down (1.28 percent), however, gold miner Newcrest was up (1.88 percent).
The country's oil and gas producers mostly slumped with Oil Search unchanged (0.00 percent), Santos down (1.68 percent) and Woodside Petroleum down (1.32 percent).
Australia's largest supermarkets lifted with Coles up (0.65 percent), and Woolworths up (0.18 percent).
Meanwhile telecommunications giant Telstra slipped (0.33 percent), the national carrier Qantas surged (1.84 percent) and biomedical firm CSL edged lower (0.14 percent).
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