PRICE MOVEMENTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 121, 21 April 1938, Page 3

PRICE MOVEMENTS.

TREND IN DOMINION. The retail prices index (base: 1926-30 equals 1000) for the three food groups for February stands at 985, which represents a fall of 6 points as compared with that for the previous month, states the Abstract of Statistics. With reference to the individual groups, that for meat shows no movement (remaining at 1052), while a decrease of 33 points in the groceries group (from 988 to 955. due to lower prices for potatoes and onions) is partially counteracted by an increase of 19 points (from 908 to 927) in the dairyproduce group —prices for eggs having risen. The February collection of weekly rents has resulted in the index for that group rising 12 points (from 830 to 842) in eomparison with the figure for the previous! August. The allgroups index (943) is the same as that for the previous month, 50.1. per cent, above the 1914 level. The wholesale prices index (base: 1909-13 equals 1000) registers a slight fall of 5 points (from 1533 to 1528), the principal movement having occurred in the index for locally produced items which, at 1621, is 9 points below that for January, due mainly to the same causes as those affecting the groceries group in the retail index. , The export prices index (base: 190913 equals 1000) has fallen 57 points (from 1408 to 1351), the principal, fluctuations in individual groups being—lncrease: Timber, 126 points. Decreases : Dairy produce, 68 points; wool, 110 points; other pastoral produce, 62 points. The share-prices index (base: 1926 equals 1000) now stands at 935, which is 12 points below that for January and at a lower level than it has been since April; 1934.