After a choppy morning the local share market is higher at midday, supported by gains in the big banks like the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, with the miners also gaining on speculation of further investment form China.

The S&P/ASX200 index is 14 points higher at 4,061 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 7 points.

To business news at midday: The Communications Electrical Plumbing Union has reportedly halted a six month battle with Telstra (ASX: TLS) after the telco agreed to discuss better work agreements for its workers. According to The Australian, the Unions national president Ed Husic says Telstra has brought a positive attitude to the discussions with unions and says it wants to finalise an enterprise agreement. The paper reports Mr Husic saying that since Telstra is prepared to talk the union will support suspending industrial action to show its commitment to the negotiations. Telstra shares rose 0.91 per cent to $3.33.

Australian Agricultural Company (ASX: AAC) has confirmed previous guidance provided to the market that is does not expect to generate a profit in the first half of 2009. It also says the second half is unpredictable and if prices remain subdued it is unlikely the company will record a profit for the full year either. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, CEO Stephen Toms told shareholders that over recent weeks it has become clear that the optimism expressed in February 2009 has proved to be premature. Saying that cattle prices have remained subdued, the Aussie dollar has rebounded sharply from its low of 63 cents to around 80 cents agains the U.S. dollar and stock losses from the floods are likely to be higher than originally estimated. Australian Agricultural Company shares dropped 1.61 per cent to $1.525.

Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Real Estate Investment Trust index up 13 points to 780. Shares in Stockland are up 2.71 per cent to $3.41. Shares in GPT Group and Westfield Group are also higher at noon.

One of the worst performing sectors at midday is the Consumer Discretionary index down 7 points to 1,323. Shares in News Corp down 2.76 per cent to $14.44. Shares in G.U.D Holdings and Sky City are also lower.

Across the Tasman and the NZSX50 is flat: Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: At the top is Telecom of NZ, stock down 0.78 per cent at $2.53, followed by Sky City, Fletcher Building, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Mainfreight.

To gold and the dollar: Gold is currently trading at $955.30 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 81.67 US cents.