Australian market continues to fall

Press, 18 November 1981, Page 24

Australian market continues to fall

Take-over action injected the only interest into a sagging Australian sharemarket yesterday. Several bids demanded investor attention as the drifting market dropped sharply. The Brisbane car dealer, GWA’s SSOM cash offer for the diversified manufacturer, UPL, Ltd, met stiff opposition from UPL directors, and the quarrying and construction group, BMI unveiled a S2ISM offer for Humes, Ltd, the plum takeover target. Apart from the take-over moves, the market was quiet; the all-ordinaries index, the general market measure, slid 5.8 points to 565.3. Some key industrial issues eased, but mining and oil stocks, which have found difficulty consolidating even minor gains, fell away;' the metals index dipped 12.4 points to 401.1, and the oil and gas index shed 12.2 points to 575.6. Declining base metal prices, the tumbling world gold price, and the bearish

mood on Wall Street will maintain the pressure on resource stocks, dealers say. The BMI offer was announced shortly after the close of trading, and the attitude of the Humes board is not yet known. BMI is offering three of its

ordinary 50c shares and $4.50 cash for five Humes shares; the BMI directors said that this .valued Humes shares at 193 c a piece. Humes rose 2c to 170 c yesterday on anticipation of a bid; the stock’s high for the year is 178 c.