Market decline continues

Press, 19 April 1982, Page 26

Market decline continues

By

ADRIAN BROKKING,

commercial editor

The New Zealand sharemarket continued its steady decline in a short week of post-Easter trading, and fell to its lowest level of the year before rallying a little on Friday. Turnovers were a little higher on Wednesday and Thursday than the previous week, and were very large on Friday, even without the boost of sales of 700,000 Winstone shares, in two parcels. Yet it is obvious that the larger institutional investors

are not interested in buying at present, and that there are more sellers than buyers around. ■; ■T- . Investors obviously regarded most of the news last week with a. jaundiced eye, although I would .? have thought that the McCaw report would have been more favourably received. As far as the sharemarket is concerned, the fact that the “McCaw task force” is not in favour of a capital gains tax, and its proposal of a 20 per cent rebate on all dividend income, should make up for its recommendation that tax-free dividends be removed. If the Government also accepts that the bonus share issue tax be abolished, the over-dll result is probably a small plus for investors. Mr Muldoon has barely commented on the report; no doubt the most logical time to give effect to any of the

McCaw proposals would be budget time. Any new law would be backdated to April I, Mr Muldoon said, so no one should waste time to "try and concoct ways of Budgetnight changes in tax.” The resignation of the chairman of Canterbury Frozen Meat Company (Mr I. E. O. McKellarj and another director, Mr C. E. W. Averill, makes it clear that the differences between the Primary Producers Cooperative Society and some of the older C.F.M. directors have not yet been resolved. What is not clear is what the “difference in philosophies” means, a question which is surely -of great interest to the sharemarket. One must assume that, as a producer co-operative, the P. wants a better deal for farmer-suppliers; this would obviously affect shareholders.