LONDON STOCK MARKETS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 January 1939, Page 9

LONDON STOCK MARKETS

RECOVERY OF STERLING ADVERSE POLITICAL INFLUENCES fU.P.A.—By Electric Telegraph— Cop> riprht) LONDON. 20th January. The recovery of sterling, despite increased international tension and an eas3 T tendency on the London and Paris Stock Exchanges, indicates the success of the measures taken to protect the currency, culminating in the circularising of detailed instructions for the enforcement of the ban on speculation in sterling, which has closed various loopholes. Whereas last week the exchange account lost gold appreciably on the balance, this week’s intervention to prevent sterling rising above 4.683 U.S. dollars to £1 resulted in a harvest of gold, wiping out the previous losses. Adverse political influences overshadowed the stock markets. The outstanding development was the acute weakness of the majority of foreign bonds following a reaction by German and Austrian issues, which weakened early on rumours of a capital levy being made in Germany and further declined because of the dismissal of Dr Schacht and the suspension of the Jewish discussions, although the firmness of the Berlin Bourse prevented a serious fall.

Gilt-edged securities were still being sold, and colonial issues were dull.