ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1710, 25 March 1862, Page 3

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

J (from the akgus.) On the 9th instant, the directors of the Bank of t England reduced the minimum rate of discount I from three per cent, at which it was fixed on the • 7th November to two-and-a-half. The steady imf provement in the position of that establishment > had caused an expectation of an early decline in the market value of money, but the reduction was r accellerated by the satisfactory intelligence which - arrived from America on the Bth and 9th inst. r While there is an enormous accumulation of loani able capital in the country at the present time, the , demand for discount accommodation ia on a very s moderate scale, and the general out-doprrate is at two and one-eighth or two and a quarter per cent. i on short-dated paper. The following are the apj proximate charges for bills of various dates-. — 80 ; to 00 days, 2Jt° 4 P er cent.; 3 months, 2J per j cent. ; 4 months, 2i to 2f per cent ; 6 months — bank bills, 2| to 3 per cent : 6 months-— ordinary drafts, 8£ per cent, and upwards, :

'Motley c'ontinvlos abundant on the Stock Ex change, and the usual terms for loan.? on Govern j. ment_ Securities are not more than Ii percent, and ' occasional transactions have lately taken place al 1 per cent only. The following are Hie rates of interest allowed on deposits :— Joint Stock Banks, 1* per cent ; at the London and Westminister 1 per cent only for I sums below £500 ; discount houses at call, If per . cent. ; do with seven days' notice, l| per cent. There is a tendency to relaxation of terms ? throughout almost every European country except I Russia. The bank of France unexpectedly ret, duced its rate of discount, on the 21st, from five to 3 four and a half per cent. ThJS measure preceded the publication of M. Fould's financial report, and, . no doubt, was devised with a view to secure a , favourable reception for that document. There , could scarcely be any other motive for it, as the stock of bullion is not increasing, and the ban!: was dealing largely in discounts at the previous minimum. Simultaneously the Bank of Amsterdam reduced its rate of discount from four to three and a half per cent ; but in this case the measure was the natural result of the financial situation in that city.