LONDON MARKETS

Hokitika Guardian, 9 July 1935, Page 6

LONDON MARKETS

FORTNIGHTLY TRADE REVIEW LONDON, July 7. There seems to be ample justification for the optimistic, note struck .by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons yesterday,, for reports for almost all parts of the country indicate increasing prosperity. Perhaps the most striking instance is the return of Bankers’ Clearing House issued on July 3 showing fliat the amount in cheques cleared during the week reached £1,006,000,000. No weekly ‘business has been . so high (since July, 1930, when a record was established with a total of £1. 121,000,000. Another indication of returning prosperity is afforded by the bloodstock sales at Newmarket, at which the total amount received was 86,007 guineas compared with. 48,506 guineas last year. The price of racehorses is regarded as a good index of the country’s prosperity conditions on the “Stock tefeW"Keiioriall.v good, with a marked improvement in gilt-edgeds. Dominions stocks generally improved The butter market has been quiet recently at a decline of about Is per ewt, chiefly due to larger arrivals of New Zealand 'butter. The statistical position remains very strong, as supplies of Australian and New Zealand butter during the remainder of the summer and early autumn months will be much below those of 1934. It is anticipated that there will be a renewal of buying before long .with improving prices.

Price s for apples declined somewhat during the week, but still remain satisfactory, and at present range from about 8s to 12s for most varieties. This is a pleasant contrast to 1934, when apples were an absolute glut on the market and fetching only about 5s to 4s. The present decline is due to an increase in the supplies of soft fruits which . previously had been scarce. One reason contributing to the strength of the apple market is the dearness of other fruits, notably oranges and lemons, supplies of which are very short. The scarcity of oranges is due largely to severe frosts in Spain, while the shortage of lemons is due to the Italian authorities commandeering large quantities for the troops in Abyssinia. Prospects for the wool sales commencing on July 9 are generally regarded as most favourable. The correspondent of the ‘'Economist” at Bradford sav s that there is nothing to prevent an all-round advance. The interval since the last sales has been one of the most active and most successful in the colonial wool trade for a long time. Merinos will have to advance by 10 to 12* per cent and cross-brcds by 5 to 7* per cent to come in line with the improvement in Australia.