Eric Watson has made his name in farming, racing, property and oil as one of New Zealand's biggest deal-makers.

Equities in Europe and on Wall Street advanced overnight and so did commodities, as data showed China's import growth last month eased to the lowest level in two years.

Investors are becoming so averse to risk that for the first time they have paid more for German securities than they will get on maturity.

The High Court has this morning heard Bridgecorp staff were told to lie to investors who called up asking where their interest payments were.