BRITISH TRADE.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 March 1927, Page 4

BRITISH TRADE.

STOCK EXCHANGE OPERATIONS. [Australian & N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON. Feb. 2G. Business on the Stock Exchange has been somewhat irregular. Gilt-edged securities have been adversely affected by the temporary monetary stringency, the Chinese trouble and the surfeit of new issues, while the boom in oil shares

have been very active at- advancing jiriecs and industrials generally mo strong. A fonture of tin; last two or ilnvn weeks has horn the issue of a uuinhor of provincial corporation loans at Homo. Those wont well, hut apjmien.tly the. domand lor them is over, tor the underwriters have been competed to take a large portion of the two lasi issue.--. Several of those corporation loans have hoon floated as 5 per oents at ICOJ and the price is regarded as too high. Nothin;' lias yet hoon done regarding the Commonwealth's large conversion operation, or one or two Australian Slate flotations, and in the presou t position ol the money market, they will probably 'be deferred for some time. The repayment, of t.lie ■Commonwealth's maturing loan of C12.7b0.000 is not due till .Tune Ist., anil it seems as if it will wait till iinaneial conditions here improve. FRUIT TRADE. Prospects of the A ustralia.n and New Zealand apple trade are rewarded as favorable, for ii now seems certain that the competition of the Americans at the commencement of the -season will he less serious than in recent vevTs. Many parcels are now arriving from the I'nitcd Stales and are in poor condition. Shippers arc apparently doubtful about the keeping 'inalities of their fruit and are trying (■> get rid of stocks as quickly as possible. This is proved by the tact- that arrivals of American fruit shipments are so far more (ban .'T> per cent, above tlm corresponding period of last season. Herman and Scandinavian buyers evidently expect a good market for they continue to pay high e.i.f prices for A us; raii. ns. dairy erode; e. I he butter market, is in an umeltlcd rendition, trades living unable to understand the Neve Zealand Can trot Hoard's -mldoi lowerin'!, of the juice l-v eight shillings, alter advancing it two shillings a few day.-, before. This reduction has had practically no effect on the demand as yet. Iml as many big multiple shops and blenders are re|)orted to be almost bare of slocks, a sudden revival of I be demand would hot be surprising, ITieerlainiy regarding Xeu Zealand prieo movements I- causing buyers to jint more

attention to Australian supplies, which arc decidedly good value at four shilling- below New Zealand quotations. WOOD TRADE. At Bradford the wool trade is beginning to show more activity, but manufacturers cannot induce buyers of yard piece goods to give prices com.ntensiulate with The present high values of raw material. As a Bradford correspondent points out:—“lt. is. of course, keen competition by foreigners which is mainly responsible, for the manner in which the price of raw material moved to a point well above what was justified by the position in our consuming departments. 1 nfor. Innately, the foreigners, are able not 'only to pay more for wool, blit also to undersell us in our. own market, with fully manufactured goods, because of the low cost of conversion. It is said iSint tlie foreigners are offering Conduit fancy worsted cloths at juices about one shilling per yard less Ilian what, similar cloths can he produced for in this district. The outlook for linns with machinery in the Bradford worsted area is anything but rosy. On this occasion, however, they have the satisfaction of not being saddled with heavy sleeks of dear ma~ ierials, and they are determined to let the importers who buy raw material on present mice level ruling in Australia, carry 1 he bulk of the risk.”