FUTURES Interest resumes

Press, 5 February 1987, Page 23

FUTURES Interest resumes

The two interest rate contracts came to life on the New Zealand Futures Exchange yesterday as call rates at one stage passed 30 per cent.

The movement in interest rates triggered off both buying and selling in the Government stock (GSK) and bank accepted bills (BAB) contracts during the day. Mr David Halligan, a trader for Jordan Sandman Futures, said yesterday that there was early selling pressure, but buying pressure occurred later in the day. This pattern of selling and then buying later in the day in a narrow range would continue for a few weeks.

Because buying the Government stock and funding costs of 30 per cent were so high, it was keeping a premium on futures. This meant that for March there would be little movement between 8280 and 8250, he said.

The trading range for March was seven points yesterday, closing a point below its high at 8275, which the

June contract had an 18 point band.

The Barclays share index contract was extremely volatile yesterday, after people had over-estimated the gain that the Barclays industrial share index had made on the sharemarket on Tuesday, Mr Halligan said. They expected a gain of between 90 and 100 points, but it rose only 65 points, he said.

Like the two interest rate contracts, the Barclays futures had been weak early, but recovered as buying interest resumed in leaders such as Capital Markets, Chase, Brierley, Rainbow Corporation, and Robt Jones Investments on the Stock Exchange. This buying interest continued in the afternoon, but prices were pushed up by the low volume in these issues, he said.

The Barclays industrial share index was up 48.29 points on the physical market, but the contract index was up only 15 points at 3245

for March on Tuesday’s close. The trading range for March was 95 points, and the contract ended the day 10 points below its high. Details of yesterday’s trading were: SUS CONTRACTS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Feb 1.8492 8492/8492 8492 2 Mar 1.8790 8790/8720 8720 2 Contracts traded: 4. Open positions at February 3: Feb 106, Mar 150, Jun 1. Total 257 (up 2). COMMERCIAL BILLS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Contracts traded: nil. GOVERNMENT STOCK Mth Open H/L Last Vol Mar 8260 276/259 275 763 Jun 8305 318/300 318 312 Contracts traded: 1075. Open positions at February 3: Mar 2123, Jun 139. Total 2262 (down 53).

Contracts traded: 92. Open positions at February 3: Mar 229, May 430, Aug 193, Oct 186, Dec 127, Jan 208, Mar 189, May 104. Total 1676 (down 74). WHEAT Mth Open H/L Last Vol Contracts traded: Nil. Open positions at February 3: Feb 1, Mar 24, May 17. Total 42 (down 2). M-DAY BANK BILLS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Feb 7575 575/540 560 111 Mar 7680 680/630 660 102 Jun 8000 8000/8000 8000 4 Contracts traded: 217. Open positions at Feb 325, Mar 451, Jun 72, Sep 16, Dec 41, Mar 41, Jun 40, Sep 40, Dec 40. Total 1066 (up 147). BARCLAY’S SHARE INDEX Mth Open H/L Last Vol Mar- 3215 255/160 245 547 Jun 3275 275/275 275 1 Contracts traded: 548. Open positions at February 3: Mar 892, Jun 33. Total 925 (up 278).

WOOL Mth Open H/L Last Vol Mar 575 575/572 572 6 May 591 592/590 590 48 Aug 612 612/612 612 32 Oct 618 618/618 618 5 Mar 615 615/615 615 1