TREND OF TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 303, 22 December 1937, Page 4

TREND OF TRADE.

BANK DEBITS A GUIDE.

The latest "Abstract of Statistics" furnishes particulars of the bank debits, or the total amount debited to all accounts (excluding Government) by the trading banks during each week.

The average weekly debits during each month are as follow:—

1934. 1935. 1936. £ £ £ r>©B. i«, 13,883,000 H5.444.000 18,521,000 1935. 1936. 1937. £ £ £ J«. M 11,470,000 13,544,000 16,595,000 Feb. ... 14,578,000 16,673,000 22,016,000 March « 15,650,000 18,440,000 23,066,000 April .. 13,792,000 17,032,000 22,023,000 May .w 12,864,000 16,326,000 18,674,000 June ... 11,960,000 14,050,000 17,236.000 roily _ 12,236,000 14,968,000 16,865,000 iug. _ 12,149,000 14,184,000 16,123,(XX» Sept. M 12,833,000 13,631,000 15,951,000 3ct- — 11,930,000 14,783,000 18,237,000 M 13,144,000 16,574,000 •16,873,000

•Three weeks only.

These figures gire * fair idea «f the volume of business done generally. They indicate the quieter state of trade during the winter and early spring, when exports are low and internal trade is quieter, and the greater inactivity in the summer time and the flush of the export season. General expansion of trade was indicated in the returns for 1036, and this trend has been strongly accentuated in the present year. The average for the last three months was higher than for any corresponding period in the past decade. There waa evidence of a marked spurt in activity in the first week in October, when the figures rose sharply from £16,760,000 to £22,966,000. There appears to have been a check to recent expansion in the first two weeks of November.

An important factor in the returns is the influence of higher prices in increasing the amount necessary for financing a given quantity of stock.