90 at 9: NZ$ hits post-float high vs pound; Gold jumps on oil-for-gold talk; Peters and Mathias bankrupt

Click here for this morning's video. Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9am in association with ASB, including news the NZ dollar rose to 73.8 US cents overnight after the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised many and hiked its official cash rate to 3.25% from 3%. The RBA's cash rate is now a full 75 bps above the RBNZ's Official Cash Rate on 2.5%. How long can Alan Bollard hold it there without breaking his promise to wait until late 2010 before hiking the OCR? The US dollar was also weak overnight on talk it may lose its status as the global reserve currency, Reuters reported. A report by Robert Fisk in the Independent overnight that Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and France may start using gold to trade oil instead of the US$ spooked many and pushed the gold price up US$20/oz to US$1,040/oz. These nations later denied the report. The NZ dollar also jumped to a post float record high vs the British pound of 46.3p. A good Fonterra auction result overnight will also bolster the NZ dollar. The wholemilk powder price rose 5.7% to US$3,022, which is its highest level since February 2008 and up 65% from its July low. Meanwhile, there are more bankruptcies in the property development sector. Jamie Peters, a relation of Winston Peters, has been declared bankrupt because of unpaid debts worth NZ$100 million. Peters was responsible for some of the Gulf Harbour developments, the NZHerald reported.  Jonathan Mathias, a lawyer who advised a couple to invest in Blue Chip, was also declared bankrupt after a judge ruled he could be sued for malpractice, the NZHerald reported.