FUTURES Barclays volume up

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 45

FUTURES Barclays volume up

Volume picked up sharply in the Barclays share price index futures contract yesterday, as both shares and the futures index retreated.

The manager of Mair Astley Futures, Mr Geoff McDonnell, said that technically the higher volume coupled with the large movement in the contract could indicate a change in sentiment by players. The Barclays contract was now closely moving in sympathy with what was occurring on the Australian market because a number of leading New Zealand issues were now listed across the Tasman. The Australian sharemarket had come back sharply early in the afternoon, he said. Concerns about the extensive premium over futures have also been expressed by some dealers, and yesterday it was cut back to 189 points against the physical. It stood at 258 points in the previous session. The contract ended 19 points off its low at 3985, after a trading range of 119 points. Concerns about interest rates kept investors wary of the Government stock and bank-accepted bills contracts yesterday. Mr McDonnell said that many investors had got burnt when the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures had come out, and this time they were staying on the sidelines until the figure was certain. Both the contracts would be governed by the release of this Friday’s food price index

figure, and next week’s CPI result If the CPI figure was considered inflationary then interest rates could rocket he said. Prices were coming oft in the near months for the wool contract because the premium against the auction prices were considered too unrealistic. “It would be a good speculative position to sell hell out of wool futures." In Sydney, the December share price index futures closed down at 2274.0 in volatile trading from 2332.0 on Monday, after peaking at 2364.0. Details of yesterday’s trading were: JUS CONTRACTS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Oct 1.5331 331/331 331 210 Contracts traded: 210. Open positions at October 5: Oct 311, Nov 1, Mar 3, total 315 (up 100). COMMERCIAL BILLS Contracts traded: Nil. Open positions at October 5: Dec 40, Mar 39, Jun 10, total 89 (same). GOVERNMENT STOCK Mth Open H/L Last Vol Dec 8398 403/397 402 259 Contracts traded: 259. Open positions at October 5: Dec 1169, Mar 10, Jun 70, total 1249 (up 35). WOOL Mth Open H/L Last Vol Jan 675 675/675 675 3 Mar 692 692/692 692 5 May 710 712/710 710 6 Contracts traded: 14. -Open positions at October 5: Oct 17, Dec 91, Jan 309, Mar 341, May 255, Aug 31, Oct 1, Dec 2, total 1047 (down 6).

W-DAY BANK BILLS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Oct 8075 089/075 083 43 Nov 8315 315/097 097 32 Dec 8135 135/130 130 13 Contracts traded: 88. Open positions at October 5: Oct 511, Nov 201, Dec 337, Mar 237, Jun 164, Sep 132, Dec 137, Mar 26, Jun 12, total 1757 (up 54) SYDNEY ALL-ORDS (half-points omitted) Prev. Mth close H/L Last Vol Dec 2332 2364/64 2274 2547 Contracts traded: 2547. Open positions at October 5: 3614. BARCLAY’S SHARE INDEX Mth Open H/L Last Vol Dec 4085 085/966 985 882 Mar 4230 230/200 200 3 Contracts traded: 885. Open positions at October 5: Dec 1188, Mar 1, total 1189 (up 55)