Rollercoaster ride for Australian shares: ASX tracking 0.1% higher at noon

The Australian share market has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride this morning it'snow tracking 0.1% higher at noon
Shares in Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE) have seen a boost after yesterday's reports of expected earnings for the first half of 2018-19 to be above consensus of $332 million. Rubber company Ansell (ASX:ANN) also did well today. Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) has fallen over 5 per cent. Australian retail turnover has risen 0.4 per cent in November. The S&P/ASX 200 index is 7 points up at 5802. On the futures market the SPI is 6 points higher.

Economic News

Retail turnover rose 0.4 per cent in November 2018, seasonally adjusted. This follows a rise of 0.3 per cent in October 2018. In trend terms, Australian turnover rose 3.6 per cent in November 2018 compared with November 2017. Household goods retailing (1.2 per cent) led the rises. Online retail turnover contributed 6.6 per cent to total retail turnover in original terms in November 2018, a rise from 5.9 per cent in October 2018.

Company news

Laserbond (ASX:LBL) has announced that revenue for the half year to December 31st 2018 was up $10.5 million. That's up 45 per cent compared to the previous prior corresponding period. This is at the peak of the guidance range provided by the AGM in October and is subject to audit confirmation. It's expected the profits will also be in line with the guidance. Shares in Laserbond (ASX:LBL) is trading 2.6 per cent higher at $0.39

Best and worst performers

The best-performing sector is Consumer Staples, adding 1 per cent, while the worst performing sector is Materials, shedding 0.9 per cent.

The best performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE), rising 4.5 per cent to $14.89, followed by shares in Ansell (ASX:ANN) and Credit Corp (ASX:CCP).

The worst performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 is Regis Resources (ASX:RRL), dropping 5.1 per cent to $4.69, followed by shares in St Barbara (ASX:SBM) and Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$1,288 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.7 per cent lower at $73.36. It's futures are pointing to a rise of 0.3 per cent.
One Australian dollar is buying 71.92 US cents.