FUTURES Barclays at discount

Press, 21 May 1987, Page 25

FUTURES Barclays at discount

The Barclays share price futures contract retreated from a premium to a discount against the physical index yesterday, indicating that traders expected the sharemarket to fall again. The premium has been quite marked at times in recent trading, and was maintained in spite of the 174.23 points taken off the Barclays industrial sharemarket index on Monday. However, yesterday the futures index moved from a premium of 60 points to a discount of 25 points, in spite of the physical index recovering a further 64 points from Monday’s drubbing. The New Zealand Futures Exchange said yesterday that trading reached a record 2863 lots yesterday. The previous daily record was the 2832 lots, on April 14. The manager of Mair Astley Futures, Mr Geoff McDonnell, said yesterday that further falls could be expected in the sharemarket, judging by the position that the Barclays contract had taken. The sharemarket did not appear to be going anywhere, he said. The contract finished at 2920, for June, against the physical index’s 2945, after an 80 point trading range

between 2975 and 2895. Both the Government stock (GSK) and bank accepted bills (BAB) contracts had started off from near their lows, Mr McDonnell said. The GSK contract had appeared to have ended its corrective phase and resumed its bullish run. It closed at 8383 for June and 8400 appeared to be challenged. The BAB contract ended in the middle range for June as treasury bill yields were dropping yesterday. The United States dollar contract was confined to the narrow range of the New Zealand dollar, which appeared settled at US5Bc to 58.05 c. The wool contract was firmer, but there was little interest in trading, he said. In Sydney, the spot June share price index futures closed 19.0 points higher at 1891.0. Details of yesterday’s trading were: SUS CONTRACTS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Jun 1.7410 7440/7353 7440 404 Contracts traded: 404. Open positions at May 19: Jun 744, Jly 38, Sep 49, total 831 (up 5). COMMERCIAL BILLS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Contracts traded: Nil.

Open positions at May 19: Jun 123, Sep 43, Dec 40, Mar 39, Jun 10, total 255 (same). GOVERNMENT STOCK Mth Open H/L Last Vol Jun 8372 389/362 383 1435 Contracts traded: 1435. Open positions at May 19: Jun 5110, Sep 36, Dec 101, total 5247 (up 241). WOOL Mth Open H/L Last Vol May 650 650/649 649 2 Oct 694 694/694 694 2 Jan 699 699/699 699 5 Contracts traded: 11. Open positions at May 19: May 80, Aug 138, Oct 106, Dec 146, Jan 357, Mar 330, May 158, Aug 16, total 1331 (same). 90-DAY BANK BILLS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Jun 7892 910/860 895 126 Jly 7975 985/975 985 7 Sep 8080 80/80 80 20 Contracts traded: 153. Open positions at May 19: Jun 944, Jly 70, Sep 399, Dec 98, Mar 107, Jun 50, Sep 50, Dec 50, Mar 10, total 1778 (up 58). SYDNEY ALL-ORDS (half-points omitted) Prev. Mth close H/L Last Vol Jun 1872 1897/77 1891 2932 Contracts traded: 2932. Open positions at May 19: 15,852. BARCLAY’S SHARE INDEX Mth Open H/L Last Vol Jun 2950 975/895 920 860 Contracts traded: 860. Open positions at May 19: Jun 1697, Dec 82, total 1779 (up 56).