Australian market easy last week

Press, 7 June 1983, Page 28

Australian market easy last week

Australian sharemarkets fell slightly last week; small gains on Monday and Tuesday were wiped out on Wednesday and Thursday, as Australian share prices fell sharply in reaction to a sharp mid-week downturn on Wall Street and plunging world gold prices. A moderate advance on Friday narrowed the losses for the week.

On a weekly basis, the all-ordinaries index fell two Eoints to 613.9, primarily ecause of losses within the industrial sector. The all-industrials index lost 5.1 points to 754.5, while the all-resources index remained virtually unchanged at 500.3, up 0.3. In major highlights over the week, on Sunday week ago the Federal Treasurer (Mr Paul Keating) an-

nounced plans for a new inquiry into the Australian financial system, with a special brief to investigate how the system can be used to. advance the economic and social objectives of the new Labour Government.

On Monday, the directors of the large Sydney-based retailing group, Grace Bros, recommended to shareholders acceptance of the Myer Emporium take-over offer in preference to a competing offer from Bond Corporation. The Grace directors based their recommendation on a report prepared by the group’s finan-. cial advisers, Lloyd's International, which questioned the ability of Bond Corp to fund its sAust236 million take-over bid. Bond Corporation

responded by raising legal objections in the A.C.T. Supreme Court to various aspects of the formal Myer take-over documents, and sought to have the offer ruled invalid and to have all acceptances rescinded. On Wednesday, the big media group, Herald and Weekly Times, reported that profit fell 2.5 per cent to sAustl2.2 million in the half year to March 31. And last, the Bureau of Statistics released figures on manufacturing activity which show that the. national recession might have bottomed out. The A.B.S. reported that manufacturing production declined by only 0.5 per cent during the March quarter, compared with a 10.1 per cent fall in the December quarter.