1A look back at the past week's financial news, which has been dominated by pre-Budget nerves.
2In the past week, a great deal of interest has centred around the Government's thirteenth stock tender, held on Friday.
3Local Government funding is worth almost $300 million a year, with city councils, harbour boards and similar organisations having to compete for funding on the open market. Traditionally, local government stock has been regarded as less flexible than other investments, with a slightly higher interest rate than government stock. However, at the moment, a cap on interest rates is making local government stock less attractive.