The Australian share market has extended its early gains to be about 0.75 per cent higher at noon.

Retailers were leading the way, up 1.3 per cent, while the big miners were again dragging their heels, down 0.67 per cent as a sector.

The Reject Shop had found 27 cents to $10.58 at noon while the world’s biggest miner BHP Billiton had shed 27 cents to $14.74.

Australia’s biggest gold miner Newcrest, was off by 44.5 cents to $12.755.

Wall Street finished a volatile session overnight up by 0.72 per cent.

Locally, investors will be looking to Thursday’s December jobs print, with most expecting a slight rise in the unemployment rate.

KEY FACTS:

* At 1200 AEDT on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 37.1 points, or 0.75 per cent, at 4,962.2 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 34.9 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,017.1 points.

* The March share price index futures contract was up 30 points at 4,910 points, with 18,790 contracts traded.

* National turnover was 765.4 million securities traded worth $1.6 billion.