The Stock Exchange

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 31, 20 February 1937, Page 13

The Stock Exchange

'Cum

Pref"

Review of Share Movements

By 4

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After a period of steady prices, with very minor fluctuations, the shaxe market of New Zealand reacted to a rush of buying orders for a few eelected stocks during the past week. Prices, generally, responded to the increased business, but after they had reached a new peak on. Tuesday last a general easing followed profit-taking. Dealings covered a large range of securities, but, "with the exception of brewery ■ issues and Bank of New Zealands, shares in Dominion companies continued to be neglected. The effecfc of increased company taxation and land-tax has been referred to in recent company reports. After the Staples Brewery reporting a decline in net profit, which was due to increased taxation, attention has been drawn to a similar .state of affairs by the chairman of the New Zealand Refrigerating Co.} Ltd.? Joseph Nathan, Ltd., and the Wellington Gas Company. Mr A. Nathan, chairman of Joseph Nathan's Ltd at the 37th annual meeting in London, referred to the onerous burden companies are asked to carry $s the result of the new legislation. He stated : "The Government of New Zealand has adopted a policy of intensified socialisation of industry. The 'main object of the legislation is to ensure for all classes of the community a fair standard of living. To gain that object, the immediate procedure has been to increase, directly and indirectly, the cost of aoing business for the pnrpose of xeducing the income of those who can. afford such rednction, and tb transfer it to those of the community less favoured. If the process' is successful, it will increas© the standard of living and the purchasing and the spending. power of the large bulk of the community, increase the prosperity of the Dominion as a whole, and cause onr trading connectiops to be of ntere value.'i FurtNr Rise In Btse Metals, The increased demand has again caused a firming in price for base mataia. Spot prices oompared witli those quoted last week are as follow: Feb 17th. Feb 9th. £ s d £ u d Copper (standard 58 18' 1J 55 11 3 Lead 28 6 3 26 3 0 Tin 231 12 6 227 5 0 Spelter 25 12 6 23 1 3 The effect of these increased prices has caused a further rise in the price of metal shares. While it is difficult, at the preseht stage, to gauge how iar the increased demand is dud to re-arma-ment, it is reasonable to antieipate a continuance of higher prices while the rearmament programme continues. The shares in Mectrolytic Zinc and Mount Lyell companies were among those to respond to the position. The ordinary issues of the former sold up to 57/9, and the preference shares touched 59/5. Mount Lyells were traded at a new record figure at 48/9, but the price was not maintained and closing saies saw an easing to 47/- up to 48/-. f Bank Shares Firmer. i A substantial turnover in bank shares saw a firming in the price for most issues. Commercial Banks opened at 19/3 and twenty-two parcels changed hands up to 19/4. Bank of Australasia had business at £13 1/6 and £13 2/6 afteir selling at £12 16/- at the last sale three weeks ago. New South Walesopened ai^ £36 and firmed on business to elose at £36 4/-, an advance of 9 jon the prev^ous week's prices. Unions opened a shilling firmer at £10 12/and advanc^d on business to close at £10 17/-. Bank of New Zealands were freely traded from 40/- to 40/9, closing saies being iecorded at 40/7 and 40/8. The demwd for these shares " has been greater than for many weeks past. There can be little doubt that the low price warrants the attention of investors, especially when the issue is compared with certain industrial shares which are commanding higher prices, llthough the state of their finances is far below that of New Zealand' s premier bank. At the end of March the terms of office will expire of two of the four Government nominees, Sir George Mliott, chairman, and Mr A. T. Donnelly,. As these two directors were appointed hy the National Government it is expected that thj new appointments will 'be men' more in sympathy with Labour's financial policy. Four of the six directors will then be Government nominess, and doubtless the question of converting the bank to a State institutiou will be fully considered. New Share Issues Considerable publieity is being given to the Dominion Brewery Company, which has decided again to increase its capital. The shares will be issued to existing shareholders at a premium of 7/6 a share in the proportion of one share for every four held. The new issue has already changed hands at 10/9 for the value of application in6ney of 7/6. Selfridges (Australia) again gives its shareholders the opportunity of subscribing for new capital in the establishment of a West Australian subsidary. It will be recalled that shares in the New Zealand company .were recently quoted on New Zealand stock exchanges at a considerable premium. which, however, was short-tived, and the quotations are now 5/6 for shares paid to 4/-. The West Australian company is being floated with a nominal capital of £250,000. Sixty-two thousand of the shares are heing reserved for the parent company and' 5250 go to the promoters ; the remainder aro offered to shareholders in the proportion of 30 for every 100 shares held. Broken Hill Proprietary In spite of record production there appears to he a definite slior1i"-' of steel. Recent announcemonts ' riiorlages in Britain and America caused

shares in the Broken Hill Proprietary to register further advances. There can be little doubt that this company wil show, record profits after the next annual balance, which is due in May. Indications ar© that the company is finding it impossible to cope with existing orders in spite of a considerable increase in production. The ^market opened at 80/11, but quickly ' gained ground to close at 85/- after touching 85/6. There were jio fewer than 100 deals in the- shares j and they were responsible, with G. J, Coles, for the bulk of the business reported during the week under review. The following table gives the highest and lowest prices, and in brackets the number of parcels, which changed hands on New Zealand stock exchanges during the Past week: — GOVT. STOCKS AND BONDS.—

£ 8 d i8 b d Inscr. Stock, SJ p.c. 1938-52 (6) 101 15 0 101 12 6 Inscr. Stock, 3J p.c., 1939-43 101 15 0 101 10 0 Inscr. Stock, 4 p.c., 1943-46 (8) 102 0 0 101 10 0 Inscr.; Stock, 4 p.c. 1946-49 (3) 103 15 0 103 10 0 Govt. Bonds, 4 p.c. 1953-55 103 15 0 Govt. Bonds 4 p.c. .1937-40 (5) 103 10 0 103 0 0 Govt. Bonds, 4 p.c. 1943-46' (6) 103 17 C 101 6 0 Govt. Bonds, 4 p.c. 1946-49 (3) 104 0 0 103 0 0 Govt. Bonds, 4 p.c. 1952-55 103 0 0 N.Z Refrig. 4 1-4 p.c. 1940-45 101 12 6 FROZEN MEAT.Canterbury (pref.) w. 6 8 0 Gear Meat (4) ............. 17 8 17 9 N.Z. ■ Refrig. (£1) (12) 10 4 10 3 N.Z. ■ Refrig. (10/-) 9 4 9 2 GAS.— . Auckland (2) 110 Christchurch 18 9 Christchurch (10/- pd.) 18 6 SHIPPING.— P. and O. def. (2) 1 18 0 1 17 0 COAL.-. J Taupiri 14 6 Westport Stockton (5) 2 0 1 11 TIMBER.— Kauri (4) 1 3 11 13 8 Taupo-Totara (ord.) .» 9 8 Rotoiti 5 6 WOOLLENS.Manawatu Knitting ... 1 15 6 Kaiapoi (17/- pd) 14 6 Oamaru Woollen 1 0. 0 Wellington 5 19 0 BANKS.Australasia (4) ......... IS 2 6 13 1 6 Com. of , Australia (pref.) 9 2 6 Com. of Australia (ord.) (22) 19 5 19 3 Eng. Scot, and Aust. (2) 6 7 6 Nat. of Aust. (ord.) (2) 15 13 0 15 12 6 Nat. of Australia (con.) 7 14 9 Nat. of N.Z. (2) 3 2 0 3 1 9 New South Wales (10) 36 5 0 36 0 0 New Zealand (ord) (41) 2 0 9 2 0 0 Union of Australia (8) 10 17 0 10 12 0 INSURANCES.— National (2) 18 1 New Zealand (9) 3 , 2 0 8 1 6 Queensland 2 19 71 South British (4) 4 19 0 Standard (2) 2 18 9 2 18 6 LOAN AND AGENCY— Dalgety's Ltd. (4) ... 10 15 3 10 14 0 Goldsbrough Mort. (7) 1,18 1 1 18 0 Newton* King (pref.) ... 9 9 N.Z. Farmers' Co-op. Guarantee Corp 5 6 5 5h ' N.Z. Loan and Merc. (9) 45 0 0 42 0 0 BREWERIES.Dominion (rights) (4) 10 9 10 0 Dominion (7) 2 4 8 2 4 0 New Zealand (27) 2 19 9 2 18 0 Staples ...,JL„ 1 15 6 Toohey 1 17 3 Tooths (51 2 17 3 2 16 7 MISCELLANEOUS.Associated Motorists (pref.) (2) 1 10 0 Anth. Hordern (pref.) (5) 1 1 1J 1 0 J Aust. Glass (8) 4 14 0 4 13 0 Aust. Iron and Steel .. 1 17 4 British Tobacco (13) ... 2 12 9 . 2 11 7 Broken Hill Prop. (100) 4 5 6 4 0 9 B.H.P. (contr.) (14) 3 14 0 3 8 0 G. J. Coles (135) 5 13 '0 5 2 0 Colonial Sugar (8) 43 0 0 42 15 0 Cousol. Brick and Pipe (13) ' 10 8 10 6 Dominion Fertiliser (4) 14 6 14 0 Dunlop Perdriau (34). 19 3 18 11 Elec. Zinc. (31) 2 17 9 2 15 3 Elec. Zinc (pref) (20) 2 19 5 2 15 11 Farmers' Trading (3) ... 13 8.136 Hume Pipe (7) 116 113 Taranaki Oil (33) 3 0 2 0 Sharland and Co. (ord) (4) 19 3 19 0 General Lidustries (41 10 3 10 2 National Tobacco (2) ... 2 17 6 2 17 3 Howard Smith 13 3 National Electric 14 74 Morts. Dock i,3) 14 2 13 9 N.Z. Farm Fert. (2) .... 10 0 Northern Roller Mills ... 12 0 Woohycrths (N.Z.J (10) 7 5 0 7 0 0 Woolworths (W.A.) (4) 7 7 0 7 5 0 Wool worths (Syd.) (30) 8 12 6 8 8 0. Selfridges (Aust.) (8) 2 0 9 1 18 0 Seli'ridgos (N.Z.) 4 /- pd (7) 5 8 5 0 ! N I N G . — . Waihi Investment (3) 1 0 3 1 0 0 i Mount Morgan (56) .... 16 3 17 2 : Mount Lyell (95) 2 3 7 2 8 9 Broken H:J' South"... 2 8 € Rawang Tin (4) 11 7 Li 34 Maori Gully (2) 6 Noinona 1 9 GHespies Beach (6) ... I 6J 15 Skippers 81-4 8