NZ stocks: Market preview reveals quiet week

By ELLEN READ

Understated could politely describe scheduled sharemarket activity this week.

Aside from the Tower annual meeting tomorrow, the calendar is bare.

After the recent flurry of interim results, today is the final day for companies with a December 31 balance date to report. There are a few stragglers among the 141 New Zealand listed companies, the Stock Exchange says.

The Bendon takeover situation remains unresolved; Pacific Retail's offer remains open until March 26 and rival Hugo Venter has yet to outline any changes to the buyout offer.

Attracting more attention than the market this week will be Wednesday's Reserve Bank monetary policy statement, as economists pick that an interest rate rise will come sooner rather than later.