BRITISH TRADE

Hokitika Guardian, 10 August 1921, Page 4

BRITISH TRADE

FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. THE STOCK EXCHANGE. LONDON, Aug 6. A holiday feeling pervades the Stock Exchange. What little business is pass, ing is confined almost entirely to investment stocks, which at" o very firm. New colonial loans are all strong and

likely to remain so until the Government removes the embargo from new issues. New Zealand 6 per cents-are now quoted at 72s fid premium. BnsiI ness in industrial stocks is very slack, hut the tone of the market is good, the j few changes in quotations being mostly ' upward. Tho announcement of the I Prime Minister’s' Economy Committee has not aroused much enthusiasm on ! the Stock Exchanges, whoso members . aro mostly sceptical regarding any | l>eiiefits likely to accrue therefrom. I j They consider the committee’s appoint- . | ment indicates that the Treasury’s cir- J , culnr of last May urging Government | departments to economise has failed to ! achieve its purpose. ] THE MONEY MARKET. Conditions in the money market j have become tighter. There has been a ; considerable demand for accommodation in Lombard street, with a hardening of ; rates, and there seems little prospect of 1 a further reduction of the hank rate, at : any rate for the present. Some people | express the opinion that the present I rate will be the lowest for a year. ! FOREIGN EXCHANGE. ! The foreign exchange market has ! been unusually quiet. Tho only notiee--1 able movement is the improvement in tlie dollar exchange to 3(30 cents, for which the market cannot account, the 1 only suggestion being that tho jump is due to remittance to London of funds 1 held in New York on reparation ao- ' count. EDIBLE OILS. I As the result of the drought and tho consequent shortage of butter the dr- _ 1 mand for margarine i s steadily increas- , ing, with firm prices. Manufacturers ; are buying raw materials freely, thus forcing upwards the values of copra, | tallow, palm kernels, ground nuts and , all edible oils. There has been quite a boon in copra, Dutch crushers bought i 20,000 tons in a week, and the price • ' for August-Octohcr shipment reached , 1 £37 per ton on Wednesday, but sales . I by profit-taking speculators caused a t ! decline of 30s, and there may be a ■ ' a slight further set-hack, though the :> j general opinion is that values are likely | to he maintained at about the present t 1 level when the speculators are shaken t I •ut. There is a good demand for tab r ! low at full to dearer rates. An advt.ieo : i is expected when sales resume on Aug- - ! ust l()th. There is some enquiry from I Australia, for shipment, but little r business is possible as the prices asked e . are above those ruling here. Margarine I . manufacturing companies are having f , very prosperous times. Vandenbergs - Ltd’s, net profits for eighteen months ■ ' were €1,(324,873.. | CANNED FRUITS. ! Canned fruits are meeting an oxcopi . tioiiaaly good demand. Lower grade Californian ’apricots and poaches are ul- ' j most unobtainable. Supplies are likely 1 to be s bort. till the new season’s fruit is 1 available. Singapore pines are in g eat request and supplies are unequal to ' trade requirements, so Australian packera ought to do well, especially as the trade papers report a great iinpro.'o--1 ment in the quality and packing of the " Australian product. THE WOOL TRADE. s The wool position shows little change, the holiday spirit, being everywhere ap- ■ parenV Reports from Dewslmry point to *. return of the heavy woollen <rade I to pre-war conditions, 'making cheap low coarse cloths instead of the finer 1 qualities which were in demand during L , 1 the war, when people had plenty ol ! money and were willing to pay high ! j prices. Now money is loss plentiful , | there is a steady swing of the pendulum , in the direction of the old class of cloths. One firm recently sent a thousand cheap pieces abroad. Others s could have sold many more if they had i had them in stock.