Aust: mixed week

Press, 23 January 1984, Page 22

Aust: mixed week

NZPA Sydney Australian sharemarkets beat a retreat over the first two days of last week with metal stocks bearing the brunt of the sell-off. But, in spite of little movement in metal prices, buyers returned in force mid-week to take advantage of fresh buying opportunities and the all-ordinaries index recovered 15.7 of the 22.9 points lost during a rout that began on Tuesday of the previous week.

The industrial sector again broke new ground on Thursday while metal and oil issues soared. Over the five days, the all-ordinaries index moved up 6.5 points to 781.5, the all industrials index gained 7.4 points to 1030.8 while the all resources indicator firmed 5.7 points to 583.8.

Brokers said the hammering taken by metal stocks early in the week was fuelled by disappointment about the failure of gold and copper to respond in theend- of-week slump in the United States dollar. But

Wall Street’s late rally on Tuesday set the tone for a technically-inspired buying surge later in the week.

Major on-market developments during the week included a takeover offer for the vehicle distributor, LNC Industries, by the Liberman family through Permewan Wright Consolidated. The move came after considerable speculative activity in the stock. The Liberman offer of 325 c a share was rejected as inadequate by LNC directors and was swiftly overbid in the market amid strong speculation about a counter bid.

A similar fate awaited Industrial Equity’s 375 c-a-share offer for the life insurer, APA Holdings, which finished the week at 430 c.

Another take-over target, the Perth retailer, Boans, put on 65c to 1140 c after a rival paper bid from Parry Corp valued at 1200 c a share. Meyer Emporium is bidding 1075 c a share cash.

The high-technology stock, Vapocure, was the week’s star

performer, closing at 285 c, compared with its price of 75c a month ago. On Thursday, directors said they were holding discussions with a number of major United States corporations, after strong speculation that the company was close to clinching a deal with Du Pont. Vapocure is a process for rapid curing of industrial coatings. News Corp, and BHP also put in robust performances on the strength of “buy” recommendations from Merrill Lynch in the United States. BHP put on 30c over the week to 1415 c while News Corp climbed 60c to 1250 c.

Among the many situation stocks, B. Seppelt was the most active with 2 million shares changing hands on Friday as the market speculated that Adelaide Steamship was building a big stake in the Adelaide winemaker before making a raid. This comes after Seppelt’s failure to gain control of Cascade after lEL secured more than 50 per cent of the Tasmanian brewery through on-market transactions on Thursday.