At noon AEST on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 13.7 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 7,864.4, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 15.1 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 8,085.3.
Earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that employment grew by 58,000 people in July, far more than the 20,000 that economists were expecting.
The unemployment rate also ticked up by a tenth of a percentage point to 4.2 per cent, as a record 67.1 per cent of Australia's adult population joined the labour market.
Krishna Bhimavarapu, APAC economist at State Street Global Advisors, said the stronger-than-expected jobs growth flies in the face of the investment bank's dovish expectations but expected the Reserve Bank to hold off on interest rate cuts.
"With inflation coming down and the unemployment rate rising, the RBA may be less compelled to consider another hike, but nonetheless may hold the cash rate at 4.35 per cent longer than we expect," Mr Bhimavarapu said.
Betashares chief economist David Bassanese had a similar take, saying the readout was "relatively mixed in terms of its implications for the economy and interest rates", and consistent with the RBA keeping rates on hold for longer.
Mr Bassanese isn't expecting a rate cut until February, rather than the cut in September or November that some other economists predict.
At midday seven of the ASX's 11 sectors were higher and four were lower.
The utilities sector was the biggest mover, dropping 4.2 per cent as Origin Energy plunged to a four-month low.
The electricity supplier was down 9.4 per cent to $9.60 at midday despite announcing its full-year underlying profit had grown 58 per cent to $1.2 billion.
Telstra meanwhile had climbed 2.5 per cent to a six-month high of $3.965 as the telecom announced its underlying profit had climbed 7.5 per cent to $2.3 billion, excluding $715 million in one-off restructuring charges.
"A consistent and disciplined execution of our strategy has delivered our third consecutive year of underlying growth," said chief executive Vicki Brady.
The heavyweight mining and financial sectors were going in opposite directions at midday, with the former down 0.7 per cent and the latter up 1.1 per cent.
Rio Tinto had slid 3.1 per cent, BHP had dropped 0.7 per cent and Fortescue had fallen 1.3 per cent.
ANZ was leading the Big Four banks higher, climbing 2.0 per cent, followed by Westpac with a 1.8 per cent gain. NAB had grown 1.0 per cent and CBA was up 0.7 per cent.
Cochlear was down 6.8 per cent to a six-week low of $316.04 after the hearing implant company delivered an underlying full-year profit of $387 million, up 27 per cent from 2022/23 but below analyst expectations.
Latin Resources had soared 50 per cent to a six-week high of 18 cents after the Brazil-focused lithium developer agreed to be purchased by Pilbara Minerals in an all-scrip transaction implicitly valuing Latin Resources shares at around 20 cents.
Pilbara shares had sunk 5.4 per cent to $2.695.
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