AN INVESTOR'S NOTEBOOK

Evening Star, Issue 25716, 13 February 1946, Page 6

AN INVESTOR'S NOTEBOOK

LONDON REDEMPTION REFLECTED IN STERLING HOLDING A drop of £NZ12,372,022 in sterling funds held by the Reserve Bank is recorded in the return as at the close of business on (February 4. This sum has been applied to the redemption of e £10,505,989 sterling loan, and is the second and final payment to be made in the £23,392,099 redemption announced by the Minister of Finance before Christmas. This 4 per cent, loan, the basic amount of which was the first London loan operation' of the Massey Government, matures in 1963, but it carries the option of redemDtion any time after February 1, 1943, on the giving of three months' notice. Tlie saving of interest payments in sterling on this loan wiH be £420,239 annually. NEW ZEALAND TRADE RETURNS. Business activity in the month of November showed that external trade was marked by a comparatively high level of exports and that imports reached their highest total since the cessation of the inflow of defence material and equipment, according to the ' Monthly Abstract of Statistics.' Activity in the property market was particularly brisk, and this was accompanied by a continuation in the amount represented by the registration of mortgages. Other features include a new record for the value represented by building permits in the larger centres, heavy sales tax receipts, and a continuation of the lessening in passenger traffic on the railways. The value of exports for November (£7,098,157), although nearly thfee times that for October, was substantially below that for November of last year. The increase for the elajsed period of 1945 over the corresponding period of 1944, which had reached £9,136,027 by the end of June, has now been reduced to £2,294,086. AUSTRALIAN GOLD RESERVE. For the past few years Australia-has not been exporting her gold production. This, it is understood, is explained by the Commonwealth Bank's purchasing current output to build up a national reserve at home, states the ' Sydney Morning Herald.' The trade figures for recent years show practically no exports. But there were imports of millions of pounds worth of gold m this period. The latter may represent other countries' reserves sent to the Commonwealth Bank for safe keeping. Over the. past three years annual output has averaged about £7,000,000. Up to 1942 it was much closer to the pre-war leved of £11,600,000 a year. It is estimated that the Commonwealth Bank may have absorbed anything from £40,000,000 to £60,000,000 of this local production during the war years. It appears under the balance sheet item " gold and balance abroad." These international reserves now stand at £175,400,000, compared with an average of £33,300,000 for 1939. By retaining the metal in Australia the bank has returned to a policy abandoned 16 years ago. During the depression practically the whole of Australia's 1928 gold reserve 0f£46,400,000 (equivalent to £58,000,000 at the present exchange rate) was shipped away to save default on oversea commitments. In succeeding years current output was needed to bolster up export income. Gold holdings then were a luxury. With the improvement in London balances during the war the bank has probably succeeded in regaining most of the' original 1928 national stock. In addition, London balances are as high as in p.re-depression days. DIVIDENDS DUE. Victoria Insurance.—An interim of 2s a share (5 per "cent.), unchanged, is payable on February 26. ' Otago Daily Times.' —A final dividend ■has been declared of Is, making Is 8d for the year, unchanged. Wellington Trust, Loan, and Investment. —A final dividend of 2s for each £5 paid up share, making 3j per cent, for the year, compared with 3 per cent, last year, is payable on February 26. AUSTRALIAN SHARE LIMITS. .Revised share limits on the Sydney Exchange include new minimum, maximum, and ceiling prices for the following:— George Farmer, 12s 3d, 14s 9d,- and 20s; Hornibrook H'way (ord.), 12s, 15s, 15s; Neon Signs (Australasia), 12s 6d, 13s 9d, 20s; N.Z. Forests Products (ord.), ss, 6s, 20s; Sulphide Corp. (ord.), 10s 9d, 12s, 15j=; Barrytown (def.), 3s. 4s, 18s; Mount Morgan (ord.), 7s 9d, 9s 9d, 10s 6d; Victoria Gold Dredging (paid and cont.), 13s, 17s 6d, 325; Wiluna Corp., 14s 9d,"16s 3d, 2Qs; Austral Amalgamated, 6s 3d, 8s 3d, 9s 9d; Austral Malay 35s 3d, 39s 9d, 465; Burma Malay, 16s 6d, 18s 6d, 20s; Kramat, 15s 6d, 19s 3d, 19s 3d; Kuala Kampar, 14s 3d, 16s 3d, 18s; Kuak Lumpur (con.), 16s 6d, 20s 6d, 20s 6d; Tongkah Compound, 18s 9d, 23s 3d, 23s 3d; Tongkah Compound, No. 2 (cont.),- 16s 6d. 18s 6d, 23s 3d. RABBITSKIN MARKET. Approximately SO tons of rabbitskins were offered yesterday to a full and representa-

tive bench of buyers. The bulk of the offering was composed of summers, summer milky, and summer broken, and there was a good demand for these at prices generally 7d to lOd below the previous auction rates. A few lines of runners and light racks were offered, and these met with a very strong demand. • The following is the official range of prices :—Spring bucks, 117 d to 124 d; spring does', 120 d to 124 d; light racks, 127 d to ; 131 d; runners, 96d to Hid; "summers, 75d to 76d; summer broken, 76£d to 78jd; second winter broken, lOld to 115 d; first 'milky does, to 107 d; summer milky, lb!;& to 76d; summer blacks, to 84£d; outgoing blacks, to 96d; summer fawns. 78|d to 88d; outgoing fawns, to 98£d; hareskins, 50d; summer weevily, 71£d to t 73JW; stoats, Is 6d to 5s lid; best ferret skins, 8s to 10s 6df second ferret skins, 3s 6d to 4s 6d; inferior,, 3d.