ENGLISH COMMERCIAL

North Otago Times, Volume VII, Issue 167, 28 December 1866, Page 2

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL

The " Home News," of 26th October, reports of the nior.ey market as follows :— The supply of money continues largely in excess of the demand, and has been considerably increased by the payment of the dividends at the Bank. The applications for discount have been very light, and in the open market the best three months' bills are taken at 4, and in some instance* at 3f per cent. On the Stock Exchange there is quit© a plethora, and advances on Government securities, are readily made at 2J to 3 per cont. A striking illustration of the abnormal depression now prevalent, even in the highest description of securities, is furnished by the fact that the quotation of Consols is, within a fraction, as low as at this time last year, notwithstanding the extraordinary difference between the two periods in the state of the money market. The Sank reserve at this moment is 43 per cent, in the excess of its total at the corresponding date of 1865, while there has also been an increase in the bullion of nearly 30 per cent. In addition to this there is the remarkable feature that the total of Government securities held by the Banks is exactly one-third larger than in 1865. Moreover, the inference would be that the break-up of the share speculation and the disquiet in the railway market should stimulate the price of Consols by causing investments to flow almost exclusively in that direction. The existing gloom of the public, however, is indiscriminate, and hence all kinds of anomalies arc witnessed and are likely to continue.