Aus shares 0.8% higher at noon

At 11:35am, the S&P/ASX 200 is 0.79 per cent higher at 8,062.60.

The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 61 points.

Best and worst performers

All sectors are in the black. The best-performing sector is Information Technology, up 1.61 per cent. The sector with the fewest gains is Energy, up 0.34 per cent.

The best-performing large cap is Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), trading 4.15 per cent higher at $14.54. It is followed by shares in WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) and James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX).

The worst-performing large cap is SEEK (ASX:SEK), trading 1.44 per cent lower at $21.20. It is followed by shares in JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH) and Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY).

Commodities and the dollar

Gold is trading at US$2480.90 an ounce.
Iron ore is 1.4 per cent lower at US$107.25 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent fall.
One Australian dollar is buying 67.38 US cents.