The Australian share market has started the week on a high, with Priceline's owner, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), skyrocketing on a takeover bid from Wesfarmers.
The ASX 200 ended Monday up 0.8 per cent.
That saw it rise after a sell-off on Friday.
The day's top performer by far was API, which gained 19.7 per cent in the day's trade on the back of the unsolicited bid by Wesfarmers.
API owns the pharmacy chain Priceline and Soul Pattinson chemists.
Wesfarmers is offering $1.38 a share which works out at $680 million.
API's gain has taken it to within an inch of that offer at $1.37.
Wesfarmers owns Kmart, Bunnings and Officeworks, and has previously made proposals to have pharmacies inside its stores.
API's largest shareholder, Washington H Soul Pattinson, is voting in favour of the takeover.
Mining supplier up on debt relief
Other strong performers on Monday included Viva (+3.4pc), Mineral Resources (+4.2pc) and Pilbara Minerals (+2.7pc) as commodity prices gained.
Financials and real estate were also trading up.
NRW ended the day up 12 per cent, giving it its best day of trade since August.
The mining services contractor said it will sell a unit's equipment to reduce its debt by nearly a third to $34 million.
In the red, Redbubble was down 2.9 per cent, Worley lost 1.1 per cent, and Hub24 was just shy of that loss.
The Australian dollar took a slight dip overnight and was hovering at 75 US cents.
Meanwhile, ABS data shows Australia is coming down from its HomeBuilder high.
Building approvals for residential dwellings hit a record high in April.
But the latest ABS data shows private sector houses fell 10.3 per cent in May to 13,571 approved.
Private sector dwellings, excluding houses, increased 1.2 per cent in May, driven by a rise in apartment approvals in Western Australia.
The federal government's HomeBuilder scheme ended in March.
