Commerce, Mining, & Finance

Evening Star, Issue 22807, 16 November 1937, Page 13

Commerce, Mining, & Finance

j LIFELESS MARKETS i Much Hinges on United States ■I . * . ■ ' ' ; \ ■■ ■" ’■ 1 Rising Costs in the Dominion i) Quiet days are being experienced bn the local Stock i’y Exchange, with neither 'buyers nor sellers displaying any peat interest in the market.. Quotations,- however, are * remaining steady, though Australian mining shows a,tendency , j to ease. Something of a more definite .nature may take place > when the result of President Eoosevelt’s special session of Si. Congress is made known. The President is optimistic, as t reported in the ‘ Star ' last night, that'plans he has outlined .will, if adopted, mean an improvement in American conditions, |' and-if this is so, the reaction will be felt favourably in every | market in the world. But on the other hand, if the session is i «: failhre, a serious setback in.values; seems indicated. While this atmosphere of uncertainty prevails it is easy to see why ; the stock markets are in a comatose condition. 1 > ; The latest issue of the ‘ Abstract of Statistics ’ reveals a slight decrease in sales tax returns for the month of September as compared with August. For the period of nine months ended September 30 as against the same period 12 months ago, however* there is a fairly substantial increase shown.. Further figures taken from the ‘ Abstract - prove conclusively that cost of living is steadily rising, and the greatest increase would appear to he in meat; groceries, however, also show a substantial increase, but-this is-partly explained by the rise in price of old potatoes which are, for the. purposes of this summary, included in the grocery group.

SALES TAX RETURNS BURNT DECREASE IM SEPTEMBER Sales tax collections in September were £300,714, -* decrease -of £2BB onthe total for the previous month, but an increase of £46,045 over the figure for September last year, states . the Abstract of Statistics.’ During the nine months ended _ on September 30 rules tax collection* .totalled £2,554,348, an increase of 23 per cent, above the total for the same period of 1936. This increase in sales tax collections' ia indicative of a sub-* etantiil upward: trend in commodity salea' in’ the Dominion. In this connection it should be noted that many comprime" necessities) are exempted :■ from the provisions of the tax. PRICE INDICES. The retail prices index (base: 1926-30 >=1,000) for the . three food groups has risen 20 point# during the month of September, and now stands at 976, each - of the group# exhibiting a continued upward tendency, the 1 greatest", increase (from 1,007 to 1,038) occurring in tho meat group, whilethe influence of potato prices has been mainly responsible for raising the groceries index 20 points (from 947 to 967). When the September indexes for food and for fuel and light are combined with the August indexes for the remaining groups, an all-groups index of 934 isi obtained, which is 7 points above that for August and 48.7 per cent, above the 1914 level. The wholesale prices index (base; ' 1906-13 - 1,000) has fallen 1 point (from 1,525 to 1,524) during the month of September, a fall of 5 points in the “locally produced” grosp being partially counteracted by a rise of 3 points ia the group for “imported commoditise” (in- this. instance no individual item, exercising a preponderant influence). V The export price index (base: 1909-13 '=li000) exhibits"ail increase of 8 points (from 1,451-to 1,459), a number of con-, flicting . movements in the various groups combining to produce this result. .Details of the principal fluctuations ‘are:—lncreases: Dairy produce, 62 points (butter and cheese); minerals, ’sl points. Decreases: Other pastoral produce, 173 points (all hides and shins); - timber, 304 points. BUILDING ACTIVITY. The value of building permits issued ■ f in the 21 larger centres during.. September was £706,934, a decrease of £97,583 below the total in August „-(£804,517), but au increase of £266,* . 697 above the total in September, 1936. The number of new dwellings for which permits were issued in September was 466, as compared with 458 in 3h» previous month, and 314 in Sep"jtember, 19§6. . The statistics of building permits include particulate of new buildings and . ma#or alterations or additions comJMaeed (in the 31 centres only) by Government departments and education boards, although permits may not be actually issued. Figures for September, 1937, were:—New dwellings, 160; other new builings, 1; alterations, etc., 7$ total value, £188,796. SYDNEY WOOL SALES PrSSS Association—By Telegraph—Copyright V SYDNEY, November 15. j At the wool sales 10,979 bales were offered and 8,400 sold, while 674 were disposed of privately. The market was "firm for all good wools at the closing fates of last week. Short and faulty descriptions, however, continued irregular, being difficult to sell. Competition came mainly from the Continent and Yorkshire. Greasy merino made to 26d. The average price of wool last week was £l6 8s 3d a bale, or 13.3 d a lb. PROPERTY AUCTION John Reid aad Sons Ltd., at their rooms yesterday, offered under instructions from the Perpetual Trustees Estate and Agency Company Ltd. part of section 1, block XV., East Taieri district, containing one acre fronting Janefield road, North Taieri, and modern brick residence thereon. After competition the property was secured bj Mr H. Middleton pt £950.

FOREIGN EXCHANGES QN NEW ZEALAND CURRENCY BASIS The Bank of New South .Wales, Dunedin, quoted the following rates for purchase and sales of foreign exchanges (all rates subject to alteration without notice) :

The Associated Banks (other than (he Bank of New South Wales) quoted the following dollar rates to-day on a New Zealand currency basis. They are subject to alteration without notice:—

Buying. Selling. London— £100 «tg. £124 10/ N.Z. * ... s. T.T. £124 O.D. £123.10/ £124 8/9 Australia— £A to- £100 N.Z. ... ... T.T, £101 £101 10/, Fiji— £P id £100 : £89 N.Z. ...' ... T;T. £90 7/6 Now York Dollars to £i N.Z, ' .... ... T.T. 4.0402 4.0055 O.D. 4.0602 4.0005 Montreal —, 1 Dollars to £1 N.Z. - ... ... T.T. 4.0367 4.0042 ■ O.D. 4.0487 4.0082 Austria — Schillings to £1 20.78 N.Z. ... TJ O.D 20.79 Belgium— ' Belpias to £1 ... T.T 23.794 23.484 O.D 23.869 23.495 Czechoslovakia— Crowns to £1 113.06 N.Z. ... T.T. . -wO.D. 113:11 Denmark— Kroner to £1 N.Z. ... T.T O.D 18.203 18.263 17.893 17.899 France— Francs to £1 . 117.41 N.Z. .. T.T. — O.D. — 117.45 Germany— £1 Beichmarks to 9.8£8 N.Z. .. T-T. — O.D. — 9.873 Holland— Florins to £1 7.200 ' N.Z. .. T.T. 7.350 O.D. 7.360 7.204 Italy— Lire to £1 76.02 N.Z. .. T.T. —- O.D. — 76.07 Java— Florins to £1 7.182 . N.Z. ... T.T. 7.332 O.D. .7.372 ' 7.186 Norway— 15.893 : N.Z. ... TJ?. 16.183 O®. . 16.9*3 15.899 Sweden— Kronor to £1 . 15.492 15.498 • N.Z. ... T.T. O.D. SS? Switzerland— Francs to £1 17.260 N.Z. ... T.T. 17.530 O.D. 17.635 17.265. Noumea— Franc* to £1 116.16 116.20 N.Z; Papeete— 1 ' Franca to £1 116.21 116.25 N.Z • SS: Hongkong— N.Z. ndnee to 1 18 13-32 18 25-32 dollar ... T.T. O.D. 18 3-8 18 25-32 I-- ’ : a and Ceylon— N.Z. pence to 1 22 21-32 rupee ... T.T. 22 3-8 O.D. 22 11-32 22 21-32 Japan— N.Z. pence to 1 17 33-64 yen ... T.T. — O.D. 17 33-64 Shanghai— N.Z. pence to 1 18 7-64 dollar ... T.T. ■ O.D. — 18 7-64 Singapore— N.Z. pence to 1 34 45-64 35 3-16 dollar ... T.T O.D. 34 39-64 35 3-16 Chef oo— N.Z. pence to 1 18 1-8 Dollar ... T.T. . O.D. 18 7-64 Manila — N.Z. pence to 1 30 7-64 peso ... T.T. 29 39-64 O.D. 29 35-64 30 7-64 DOLLAR RATES.

SELLING— U.S.A. CANADA. (Per £1 N.Z.) (Per £1 N.Z.) T.T. (dri) O.D. (dol) ... 4.00 1-4 ... 4.00 11-16 3.99 7-8 4,00 5-16 BUYING— O.D, (doi) 4.04 11-1^6 4,04 5-16