90 seconds at 9am: South Canterbury's concerns; Greek celebration

Bernard Hickey details the key news in 90 seconds at 9am in association with BNZ, including news that South Canterbury Finance has issued a live prospectus into the market, but it includes some disturbing details about the state of the accounts and the future of the finance company that owes NZ$1.5 billion to more than 30,000 Mum and Dad investors. It is now covered by the extended government guarantee until the end of next year, but taxpayers are now on the hook if South Canterbury were to fail. The audited accounts showed a bigger loss than originally reported and also included a big red flag from the auditors, who expressed doubts about South Canterbury's ability to continue as a going concern. It also included details about breaches in trust deed covenants that have been waived by the trustee. Meanwhile, markets reacted positively overnight to the Greek bailout package agreed on the weekend. The euro strengthened and greek bond yields fell sharply as investors hoped the worst was over. But there remain concerns that other southern European countries will need bailouts. The New Zealand dollar strengthened to 71.2 US cents.