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90 seconds at 9 am: Barca votes, Madrid squirms; markets find positives; bonus claw-backs in Australia; Fonterra issue to be priced this week; NZ$ up strongly

90 seconds at 9 am: Barca votes, Madrid squirms; markets find positives; bonus claw-backs in Australia; Fonterra issue to be priced this week; NZ$ up strongly

Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news the Catalan region in Spain is voting in what may amount to a referendum for independence. It seems certain independence parties will gain a majority, but there is diversity in those parties.

Whatever way it falls, it will increase significant pressure on the Spanish government and make it very hard indeed for it to retain its austerity focus and adhere to EU deficit rules. The vote in Catalonia is important for the euro-zone.

The latest EU summit ended in stalemate - an outcome no-one was surprised about. The Europeans seem to have an endless string of summits that achieve nothing. Despite this it is clear now that things have moved on in Greece and the stage is now set to fund their restructure.

International markets ended the week on a strong note, with better than expected data out of Germany and China, and an expectation that this years retail season in the US will be reasonable.

In Australia, their government is set to release new laws that would require companies to claw back wrongly paid bonuses and disclose chief executives’ actual “take home” pay at the same time as boards are shifting an increasing portion of remuneration into long-term pay.

In New Zealand, we will hear how the new NZX Fonterra issue will be priced this week - probably tomorrow - although it is now very clear that few farmers are offering to sell any of their holdings. Fonterra itself will seed the market with a fresh share allocation.

The NZ$ starts the week at 82.3 USc and the TWI is at 73.7.

The positive market sentiment in international markets has brought 'risk-on' attitudes and the kiwi currency was propelled higher at the end of trading in New York on Friday. Both oil and gold also caught this mood.

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