Banks in demand

Press, 9 May 1981, Page 18

Banks in demand

A string of strong profit results and continuing takeover speculation had banking stocks back on the boil on the Australian sharemarket yesterday but the demand failed to stop the all-ordinar-ies index from slipping below the 700 mark for the first time since March 20. The Wales closed 15c higher at 355 c after reporting a 33.3 per cent increase in interim profit to $81.9M and the National rose 12c to 362 c in the wake of its 39 per cent half-year profit improvement to $49.9M. The ANZ, which reported a 34 per cent interim profit rise to $88.05M earlier in the week, firmed 8c to 480 c and its proposed merger partner, the CBA, added 15c to 460 c. The CBC bank rose 5c to 460 c on the 'ongoing theory that the Bank of NSW could make a take-over move if the ANZ-CBA deal goes ahead. The take-over speculation also spilled, over into the Wales finance arm, AGC, which rose 8c to 208 c on talk that its parent could move to

top up its 78.6 per cent holding. :The total value of banking and finance shares rose three per cent as measured by the banks-and-finance index, which firmed 22 points to 745.5. However, the all-ordinaries

index eased 3.2 points to 699.2, helped by a 15c fall by BHP to $13.90 and a 20-cent -drop by CSR to 670 c amid concern over rapidly falling international sugar prices. Resource issues continued to drift as high U.S. interest rates kept international investors at bay.