INVESTMENT MARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 183, 4 August 1936, Page 4

INVESTMENT MARKET.

11 LOW INTEREST RATES. INSURANCE RETURNS. In his annual address to shareholders in the New Zealand Insurance Company, the chairman of directors, Sir James Gunson, stated that the investment market continued at a low rate level, for throughout the year there had been no substantial improvement in the yield from gilt-edged stocks. The invested funds of the company were well spread, being represented by securities in important countries overseas and within the Dominion. Interest and rents amounted to £117,447, an increase of £299 over the previous year, which -would have been higher had not certain of the company s properties required a heavy expenditure which would not Lie annually recurring. The return this year, less tax, was 3.87 per cent, against 4.02 per cent last year. The rates of interest earned by the company upon its investments during the last five years had been as follow:— Per cent. , Per cent. 1032 4.0S 1935 4.02 103 4.31 193(i 3.57 1934 4.05 The invested funds of the company were now the highest in its history. The movements of interest rates could not safely be forecasted, but changes were inevitable, involving the need for judgment and close care in administration. |