COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 22 December 1924, Page 9

COMMERCIAL.

BEITISH TRADE REVIEW

STERLING EXCHANGE FIRM.

BUOYANT METAL MARKETS.

WOOL OUTLOOK DISCUSSED.

OPTIMISTIC VIEW TAKEN.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 5. There has been a glut of new issues on the stock exchange this week, the capital involved amounting to about £12,250,000. These have had a somewhat unsettling effect on the market for gilt-edge, which is further affected by liquidations for what aro, known as " window-dressing" operations in connection with end-of-the-year balance-sheet operations. There has, however, been no serious decline in values and there is an underlying feeling of confidence wTrfch promises well for an improvement after the holidays. The market for foreign bonds has been enlivened by dealings in the new Greek loan which, as already announced, was enormously oversubscribed. The applicants for large parcels received less than four per cent, of the amount for which they applied ani there has been a great rush for the issue which has maintained a premium of about seven per cent. In < the foreign exchange market the chief interest lies in sterling which closed firm at 4 dollars 71 cents. The main support comes from America, where sterling is expected to go higher. There seems a possibility that its strength will be maintained until fne spring, when the rate usually improves. N Strong Position of Lead.

Markets for all non-ferrous base metals continue frrm, and the feeling regarding all of them is optimistic, for there seems no present indication of anything likely to cause a serious setback on «ither side of the Atlantic.

The position of lead appears pari.'cularly strong, and apparently tture ij do sign of any relief from the shortage of supplies. Large contracts for pig-lead have been placed at high prices for Feb-ruary-March shipment. Values in the United States have been advanced to a very high level to prevent export sales and also to attract Mexican l-.ad. Thus Europe is compelled to fall n;tck largely on lead from Spain and Australia, with fair supplies from Burmah and Africa. Discussing the wool outlook in connection with the sudden decline of prices at New Zealand sales, a Bradford newspaper states that the underlying factors governing the wool situation have not changed. There is good ground for stating that the current supplies are not likely to exceed the requirements of the world's wooltextile industries during the next nine or ten months.

If America maintains her present rate 1 of manufacturing activity she will have to buy heavily in the early months of 1925 to enable manufacturers to tide ever the period until tlie domestic i'ip comes on the market. Germany has bought enormous weights of yarns at prices not far behind current quotations. Spinners who handle German trade feel quite confident regarding 'the coming year, though, it is possible, if prices /go still higher, that the German market would be adversely affected. The purchasing power of Central and Eastern Europe is so low that if the price of woollen clothing goes beyond a certain point the demand will perforce be directed toward choaper fabrics. No Serious Break in Prices. The outlook in the home tracje has disturbing features,- of which the most serious is the bugbear of high prices, which is bound to make trade difficult.

Were prices more reasonably, healthy trade expansion could be more confidently predicted, but, as it is, the tendency is in the right direction. There is no reason to fear a serious break in prices. Expert forecasts made in September, that the French wine vintage would be poor, have proved fallacious, for to the surprise of everyone the official returns show that in some of the principal districts the yield far exceeds that of 1923. In four departments of the Midi, namely, Herault, Aude, " Gard, and . PyrenuesOrientales, which provide, roughly, half the French yield, the total is estimated at nearly 28,500,000 hectolitres, an increase of 2,750,000 hectolitres over the yield in 1923. Tlio four principal ciistricts of the champagne region show a yield double that of 1923, and the Gironde department a yield of 5,605,405 hectolitres, which* is nearly 700,000 hccio litres in excess of 1923.