** Energy index  .AXEJ  rises as much as 4.5%, its biggest
intraday pct gain since Jan. 7
    ** Oil Search  OSH.AX  jumps 9% after reporting a surprise
annual profit to be the top gainer and the biggest boost to the
subindex  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KS4XP
    ** OSH firms most since Nov. 10 on making underlying profit
of $22 mln vs analyst est. of a loss of $24.7 mln due to
aggressive cost cuts
    ** Other stocks in the index were supported by higher crude
prices as they jumped by more than $1 on slow U.S. output
restart after a deep freeze shut production in Texas last week
 O/R 
    ** Gas producers Beach Energy  BPT.AX  and Santos Ltd
 STO.AX  up almost 6% each
    ** Heavyweight Woodside Petroleum  WPL.AX  rises as much as
5.2%, sees best session since Jan 13
    

 (Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru)
 ((Anushka.Trivedi@thomsonreuters.com; +918061823241;))