EFFECT ON EXCHANGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 14

EFFECT ON EXCHANGES

INCREASED TENSION

POUND STAYS FIRM

GERMAN STOCKS WEAKEN

(Received January 21, 1.30 p.m.)

LONDON, January 20. The recovery of sterling, despite increased international tension and an

easy tendency on the London and Paris

Stock Exchanges, indicates the suc;cess of the measures taken to protect the currency, culminating in the circularising of detailed instructions for the enforcement of the ban on speculation in sterling, which has closed various loopholes. Whereas last week the exchange ac- /* count lost gold appreciably on the balance, this week's intervention to prevent sterling rising above 4.68f U.S. to £1 resulted in,a harvest of gold, wiping out the previous losses. -. Adverse political influences overshadowed the stock markets. The out- ,. standing development was the acute weakness of the majority of foreign "bonds following a reaction by German and Austrian issues, which weakened early on rumours of a capital levy being made in Germany and further declined owing to the dismissal of Dr. , Schacht and the suspension of the Jewish discussions, although the firm-j ness of the Berlin Bourse prevented a! serious fall. x Gilt-edged securities were still being * sold, and colonial issues were dull.