STOCKS AND SHARES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 12

STOCKS AND SHARES

MARKET SETBACK

i-AN ANXIOUS WEEK

IMPROVEMENT AT CLOSE

"Evening Post," October 1. Coming events cast deep and sinister shadows over the stock and share markets this week in London and New . York, Australia and New Zealand mar- ' kets following. Prices of almost all shares declined sharply, the pace being accelerated as from Tuesday. Buyers in New Zealand withdrew as in a body .and the volume of sales reported, even at reduced prices, was exceedingly small. No business at'all was done ;on Monday, being a Dominion bank holiday. Otherwise the general fall would have been noticed earlier on receipt of news of the critical turn taken in international affairs at the weekend. How severe has been the fall in values this week will be realised by a glance at the table following these comments, and showing approximate prices paid for selected snares this time last year, a month ago, and wflfh buyers' and sellers' prices, and sales reported in the ; middle of this week. The particulars are as follows:—

A small;improvement was shown on Thursday ahd confirmed on resumption Of'business'yesterday up to noon. , GOVERNMENT LOANS. - New Zealand Government Stocks and Bonds uarticjp'ated in the general fall and the 3£ .per cent. (1953-57) Stock showed a reduction of £1 "on the week, -the bonds of this issue being/ also down by £-1. The'tax-free 3i peri cent, loans were also cheaper. Realisations will be found following'- the table comparing approximate prices for Gov-1 ernment loans a year ago and' today.. • " ' y Oct 1., Last This ' t . 1937. week. week, p.c. Year. • £ / & £ 3- .- 1939-41 *9S t9B t97 3*£ 1953-57 4)9 94 93 3«/, 1939-13' IOUi 98% , 98% -.iui. 194D-52 104Vj 100 99% 4*~ ' 1948- 303^ ' 99y 8 100 4 • -1949 lOoVi . . 100% 100% 4 1955 ' - -105Vs- • 100 V*. 100% ;, *Buyer. t Seller. . Half-yearly .interest. on the 4. per cent.. Stocks and Bonds of 1949 is dueon October 15 and on 1941 Stocks and Bonds b}v November 15. - ' The 1940-43-and 1949-52 loans carry interest-:at 3 h .per cent, to the expiryoi the free of income tax period, and then automatically, become 4 per cent, and taxable^ Thus in quotations these, 'issues/should' be described as 3£-4- per cent. , fv " • , ~ 'Sales of Government- Stocks and Bonds-this week were reported as fol°Fi"ser cent. Stock. (1939-43), £98 7s 6d, £98 ss, £98 2s 6d; 3i< per cent. (1938-52), £100, £99 17s 6d; 31 per cent. (1953-57), £93 10s, £93 ss, £93, and-Bonds, £93; 4 per cent. Stock (1946), £99 17s 6d, £100 2s 6d, £100, £99 17s 6d; £100; 4 per cent. Stock (1949), £100 17s 6d, £100 10s; 4 per cent. Stock (1955), £100 10s, £100 ss, £100 10s. LOCAL BODY LOANS. Sales of 4£ per cent, local body loans were reported as fpllows:—Auckland City (1955), £100 10s and (1939) £100; O&huhu Borough (1944), £101 10s; liamilton Borough (1951), £101 10s. BANKS, INSURANCE, & FINANCE. :Bank shares were weak and had but few buyers. Bank of New Zealand opened with sales at 42s 3d, and receded to business at 41s 4£d, improving to 41s 9d, closing at 41s 6d. National of New Zealand were quoted hir. sellers at 535. , ■ Bank of New South Wales (Sydnteyregister) had business at £30 2s 6d, with buyers offering £28 10s and selling.quoting £30 10s. Sales at £30 were reported. .E.S. and A. Bank shares changed hands at £5 3s. Commercial of Australia shares were weak at sales down to 15s 4d. Bank of Australasia, shares were to be bought for from £10 7s 6d to £10 14s (cum dividend). Union Bank shares were not quoted every day, but the latest price submitted by sellers was £8 Bs, with buyers not interested, •Commercial of Sydney had sellers at £20. Queensland Nationals were quoted by sellers at £5 10s. Insurance shares weakened in price and buyers were.reluctant to do business. South British were easier, with sales down to 43s 6d, compared with 44s 3d last week. Standards had sales at 54s 6d. Sellers of New Zealand Insurance quoted 545. Stock and, station shares dealt in were confined to Goldsbrough Morts at 28s'9d, down to 26s 4d; and Farmers' Auctioneering (£5) at 83s. AUSTRALIAN METAL SHARES. Sharp recessions in prices of Australian base metal shares was-a conspicuous feature of the week. Non^of them escaped. Broken Hill South slippefi from 29s 3d to 28s 3d. North Broken Hill had sales at 40s, whereas they touched 46s last week and sold then at no lower than 44s 9d. Mount Lyell opened with sales at 26s 3d and declined to 255„ improving to 26s 9d. Electrolytic Ziric (ord.) dropped from 39s 6d to 35s 6d, but recovered to 36s 6d. The preference issue started with sales at 45s and finished at 41s 6d. Mount Morgan opened with sales of from lis, falling to 10s ld, but they recovered to 10s 6d. RETAIL STORE SHARES. Principal retail or chain store shares suftered a sharp relapse, as may be seen on comparing the prices with those of last week. The position will be seen in the table following:— « Last week. This week. High. Low. High. Low. _ , „ , s. d. s. d. s. d. S. d. G. J. Coles .... 77 2 76 6 77 0 73 6 Woolworths, Ltd. .. 20 4 20 0 20 4 19 1 Woolworths (N.Z.) . 18 6 18 6 18 6 18 0 MclCfiniio's Depart. 61 0 60 0 60 0 58 6 , The reason for these wide disparities in prices of these popular shares is the same as that for banks and similar shares—fears of the unknown direction which European events might take. - . .. - . Shares in other retail companies of which sales were reported included Farmers' Trading Co., Auckland, 19s sd, with the B pref. issue commanding 21s. Anthony Hordern, Sydney, had business at 14s 6d. INDUSTRIAL AND OTHER. Inquiry for New Zealand industrial and similar investments was slack in

keeping with the market generally, and business confined to a few sales of coal and gas shares. ■ Freezing companies' shares were neglected but business in Canterbury Frozen Meat at £9 10s was reported. New Zealand Drug shares opened with sales at 69s 3d, and subsequently the price fell to 68s 6d. Wilson's Cement sold down to 16s 6d. Brewery investments were generally weaker with business in New Zealand Breweriesv at from 39s 6d down to 38s and a fall in Dominion Breweries from 30s 9d to 30s. BROKEN HILL SHARES. The course of the marke'j for Broken Hill Proprietary shares has been most erratic during the week. Last week prices moved between 54s 6d and 55s 9d. This . week the range was much greater. Business began at 55s 6d, and from Tuesday onwards the price fell to 50s 3d, with a sharp rise on Thursday and business done at 55s 4d and yesterday at noon buyers offered 555, sellers demanding 56s 3d. The contributing shares were similarly affected. . Colonial Sugar shares fell from sales at £46 7s 6d to £44 10s, and recovering to £45 12s 6d. Burns, Philps at 50s 6d and W. R. Carpenter at 44s 10£ d also figured in the sales of Australian investments. Olfy AND GOLD. Taranaki Oil Fields shares receded froml2s 4|d last week to lis, but picked up with business done* at lis Bd, yesterday rising to 12s 4d. Very little interest was . shown in. New Zealand gold mining and dredging shares. There were sales of Waihi Investments at 7s 9d, rising to 18s 3d and of Emperor Gold (Fiji), at lCis 4d.

Sept. 30, Aug. 30, Sept. 28. 1937. 1038. £ s. cl. & s. d. £ s. d. Bank of X.Z. ..243 22 9 21G Nat. Bank N.Z. 2 10 0 2 13 3 t2 13 0 Bank N.S.W.'.. 33 2 0 30 15 0 30 0 0 Bank A'asia 11 8 0 10 10 0 tlO 7 6 ■Union-".Bank ... il 12 0 8 10 0 fS 8 0 Com.-Batik Aubt. - 0 IT 3 0 1G 3 ■ 0 15 4 N.Z. Insurance .330 2 17 0 t2 14 0 Nat. Ins'ce '018 0 0 17 5 0 1G0 Ualgety - •_ 10 2 0 S 1 , 6 t8 0 0 Goldsbro'. Mort 1 14 6 1801C4 Brit. Tobacco .. 2" S 9 2 8 G 2 6 0 Col. Sugar 47 2 G 47 5 0 41 10 0 Broken Hill ... SU 0 2 18 0 2 11 0 Aust. Glass 4'12 . 0 4 13 0 4 11 :! Woolworths/Ltd.' :- — 113 0 19 1 G: J. Coles- 4 1*5 4 3 19 3 3 13- 6 Wilson's. Cement ,10 0 017 0 0 16,6 N.Z. Befrlg.; £11-0 2 0 18 8 ,f0 17. S N.Z. " , Breweries "2* 0 3 2 2 0 I 18 0 Domin. Brews. , * 0 0 1 11 G 1- 10 0 KiZ. .Drug ."...'.- 3 15 0 **" 10 6 3 7 0