CRITICAL STAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23092, 18 July 1938, Page 5

CRITICAL STAGE

LONDON STOCK MARKETS FACTORS IN SITUATION PRICES TEND DOWNWARDS (ltecplvm) July 17, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 10 Tho reliction on Wall Street, unfavourable reports on home industry and renewed fears of international tension interrupted the return of confidence to the London markets, which ended the week in steady, if orderly, retreat. All popular equities were marked down in sympathy with Courtaulds, which were marked down drastically following the reduced dividend announcement. However, no heavy selling pressure was encountered.

It appears that Britain must rely on rearmament to keep things going until tho recovery in tho United States is far enough advanced to have international repercussions. Tho slight doelino in gilt-edged stocks may reflect political fears, but these are more strongly revealed by tho abnormal demand for gold, which is depressing tho franc and sterling. Tho overseas trade figures arc. also causing anxiety, as they reveal with disquieting clarity tho deterioration in Britain's position, the decline in exports strongly suggesting that Britain s prices are above world levels. 'iho stock markets have reached a critical stage and few City men venture to take a firm view one way or the other. The markets appear very likely to follow their traditional behaviour at this time of the year of inactivity combined with a tendency to sagging prices. Commodities, influenced by tho sanio factors as the stock markets, have tended to fluctuate even more sharply, although the actual changes on balanco are not so marked.

Tho increase in copper stocks lias nfc last boon arrested. Rubber was slightly lower on the last ilays of tho week, but recovered on American consumption figures at tho close of the week. Business totalled 30,600 tons in Juno, a riso of over 1(500 tons, compared with May. Germany at present is buying much rubber, but speculative interest has been small.

SYDNEY STOCK EXCHANGE SATURDAY'S BUSINESS (Received July 17, 5.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, July 10 Sales on tho Sydney Stock Exchange to-day included: — £ 8 d Toohcy's Brewery . . .. . 110 J) Burns-Fhilp (N.z. del.) .. 213 0 Cash Orders 0 17 1) Colonial Sugar .. .. 40 Jo 0 Dunlop-Perdriau .. .. 1 'J 0 Electrolytic. Zinc .. .. 2 3 0 Commonwealth Bonds.—l per cent, 1011, C-102 Os 3d; IOSO, i-10l 15s; 1030, £lOl '_\s (id. FOREIGN EXCHANGES MINOR ALTERATIONS British Wireless RUGBY, July 1G The following rates on foreign exchanges arc current, compared with the cabled quotations on July 14 and par: — July 1G July 14 Par Montreal, dol. . 4.90 4.00% 4.800 New York, dol. 4.03% 4.03% 4.80 Paris, fr. . . 178y le 17Sy,<, 170.00 Brussels, belga.. 29.13 29.13 35.00 Geneva, Ir. . . 'J 1.02% 21.5t% 25.22 Amsterdam, gr. 8.05% 8.90 12.10 Milan, lire- . . 93 11 / ln 0392.00 Berlin, r.m. . . 12.27% 12.27% 20.43 . Stockholm, kr... 19.39% 19.39% 18.159 Copenhagen, kr. 22.10 22.40 18.159 Oslo, kr. . . 19.90 19.90 18.159 Vienna, sch. 20%t 20%t 34.683 Prague, kr. .. 142% 142% 10-1.25 llelsingfors, mark 220% 220% 193.23 Madrid, pes. .. 551 55t 23.221 Lisbon, escu. .. 110% e 110%* 110

Athens, dr. . . 5-17'/ 3 547% 375.00 Bucharest, lei.. . G72Vi 072% 813.0 Rio de Janeiro, m, 2 a 7 3a d* 2*% ad* 5.899 d Buenos Aires, pes. 10.00 10. JO 11.45 Montevideo, dol. 20% d 20'/,d 51d Bombay, rupee. . 17-%-d i7"% a d lSd Shanghai, d 01... B%d B%d Hongkong, dol. 14 ,: */ied 14 15 / 16 d Yokohama, yen 14d lid 21,55 d Batavia, gr. .. 8.01 x / a 8.94 12.10 Belgrade, din... 217 217 270.31 Warsaw, zloty. . 20.18 2G.IS 43.38 'Sellers. NEW ZEALAND QUOTATIONS The Associated Banks (other than the Bank of New South Wales) quoted the following dollar rates on Saturday, on a New Zealand currency basis, subject to alteration without notice: — Selling: United States Canada T.T. . . 3.05% 3.07"/,. On demand . . 3.95% 3.98y, a Buying: On demand . . 3.99Y a 4.02%# Following are the latest rates for purchases and sales of foreign exchange quoted by the Bank of New South Wales, Auckland. They are subject to alteration without notice: — To .CI N.Z. T.T. On Demand Currency Selling Buying Selling U.S.A., dol. 3.9517 3.9903 3.9557 Canada, dol. . . 3.9787 4.0232 3.9827 Belgium, belga 23.292 23.677 23.303 Czecho'vakia, cr. 113.00 Denmark, kr. . 17.893 18.203 17.899 Finland, Fin. ms. 179.03 185.83 179.73 France, fr. . . 142.26 145.7G 142.30 Germany, r.rn. . 9.790 Greece, drachmas 429.54 Holland. 11. .. 7.149 7.339 7.153 Italy, lire .. 75.15 Java, fl. .. 7.129 7.319 7.133 Norway, kr. .. 15.892 10.242 15.898 Noumea, fr. . . 110.51 147.70 140.55 Papeete, fr. .. 140.00 147.00 110.70 Sweden, kr. . 15.400 1 5.845 15.490 Switzerland, fr. 17.228 17.503 17.233 N.Z. pence to — Chefoo, dol. .. Nominal Hongkong, dol. 18 J / 4 18 11-32 18% India, rupee . 22 25-0 1 22 5-04 22 25-04 Ceylon, rupee 22 25-04 22 5-01 22 25-04 Japan, yen .. 17 9-10 Manila, peso.. 30 17-04 29 43-01 30 17-04 Shanghai, dol. Nominal Singapore, dol. 351-04 317-10 35 1-04 The cost in New Zealand currency of the pound sterling, and of the principal overseas units, on the latest quotations, is as follows: — Present Price Par s d s d London, pound . . 21 10.05 20 0.00 Australia, pound 19 10.81 20 0.00 Fiji, pound . . 22 5.00 20 0.00 New York, dollar .. 5 0.54 I 1.31 Montreal, dollar .. 5 0.1.8 4 1.31 Paris, franc . .. 0 1.08 0 1.31 Berlin, reichsmark . 2 0.33 0 11.74 Copenhagen, krone • 1 1.32 1 1.22 Yokohama, yen . . 1 5.41 2 0.5s

CUSTOMS EXCHANGE RATES Finally doc In red rates of ex change ruling at the dato of' departure of vessels named are shown in the following table: Canadian Constructor. Canada, dollars 5.01 Canadian Constructor, America, dollars <1.07 City of Bagdad, Canada, dollars . ft.oii Cit.v of Bagdad. America, dollars .. Swartcnhowlt, Singapore, dollars 2h3%i1 Swartenhondt, Dutch East Indies, gulden 8.04 MINING SHARES IN LONDON LONDON, July 15 Oil the mining market to-day New Guinea Gold shares sold at Is 3d and Bulolos at £5 lis IOJd. ITALY'S IRON SUPPLIES Italy is negotiating with Yugoslavia lor the purchase of 250,000 tons of iron ore. This is to replace her former purchases from Austria, whence supplies cannot be expected in the future. It is believed that this initial transaction will lead to a regular flow of orders. Hungary also is trying to replace her ore requirements, formerly satisfied by Austria, by purchases from Yugoslav and Bulgarian eourcea.