TRADE REVIEW

Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1931, Page 3

TRADE REVIEW

IMPROVEMENT IN BRITAIN. STOCKS AND SHARES ADVANCE. LONDON, October 17. The improvement in trade mentioned earlier this month is be’ng steadily maintained, with a furthei increase in employment in .many industries. One of the.; most satisfactory features is the continued growth of the coal export trade. Reports from Hartlepool state that th's week's shipments from there reached the record of 75,187 tons. From Lancashire came further encouraging reports. According to the “Economist's'’ correspondent, since the end of the third week in September a distinct change has come over all engaged in the cotton industry. Spinners, manufacturers, merchants, and agents have encountered a definite trade revival, and business is’ being done on a large scale. It is held in some quarters that the buying movement has been stimulated owing to external matters which may pot last, but it is sufficient to say that numerous producers have obtained relief, and are now in a much stronger position to hold out for higher prices.

Conditions at the moment are abnormal. Many things may happen in the near future, but the relief obtained is very welcome. There is ground for believing that the larger demand for goods will spread, and there, is now little likelihood of' cheaper rates for raw col ton. U| MORE CHEERFUL TONE. The improvement on the Stock Exchange is also maintained, for though there has rot been a. great amount of business, the tone of the market is decidedly more cheerful, the markets being largely dominated by hopes ol a National Party victory at the elections. One of the most welcome signs is the improvement of home industrial stocks, many of which show really wonderful advances . compared with a month ago. Thus, in iron, coal, and steels the shares of evght companies show improved values ranging from 14 to 77 per cent. In seven textile comoniies the improvements range • from 26 to 115, .and in four home railways from 15 to 107.

The most satisfactory of all to Austral u>\s is. tlm upward movement oT all Commonwealth and State stocks. Since the beginning of the month Commonwealth 5 per cents, are 12j higher; 6 per . yents., 13. J ; Victorians range from. nine, to II higher; New South Wales four to 15 ; Queensland live to 10; South Australian, four to efi.dit; Trsmallian, lour to six ; and Western Australian, five to seven points.

New, Zealand have also improved from two to four points, though, of course. Mu New Zealand’s case the .setback 'has not been so serious as it luis been in Australia’s. The financial papers; calling attention to the improvement, point out that Australaiis at present prices are still giving splendid returns, mentioning seven which yield-, allowing for redemption,' returns ranging from £6 17s per cent, to £l4 16s.

Attention is also directed to Australian bank shares, some of which, as Up •u,,,. p <d 0 r S ’ Chronicle points out, had fallen so heavily in the last 12 months'that they are now at reasousl). prices for lock-up investments purposes. Thus, at the present price, Uiran\ Banks yield 6-J per cent, faxfree, on the basis of the reduced dividend paid for the year ended February. The Bank of Australasia and Bank of New South Wales similarly return about eight per cent. Hr: same applies to a number of Australian pastoral companies, which can now he purchased very cheaply, and ought to show considerable improvement in the not far distant future. - BACON AND EGGS. Importers of Australian eggs an having a difficult task to dispose . ot them just now;' for supplies froir >ll sources are very heavy. The continuance of warm weather allowed Font in. •ental production to be lnainta in u later than usual, and arrivals oi Continentals in September were more, chan double tlnse for September, IjjU. Under these conditions it was quite impossible to maintain the prices rear, ised early in the month, and present values of Australians are 10s 6d to 12s 3d per 120. it is now recognised L hat the importers made a m.stake in rushing the prices to 14s, as they did three weeks ago. At the present figure Australians can be profitably retailed ,ut three halfpence. Importers are hopeful that this may stimulate the demand.

The British housewife can certainly supply the breakfast table cheaply now. for bacon has just been reduced about ten shillings a cwt., and the wholesale prices ’of “the best Danish is only about 56s a cwt. This lollows the record killing of pigs in Denmark this week, the number killed being 166,500. which is about 20,000 above the previous record. As tlie ‘ Grocer jthe trade newspaper) points out, the expansion of exports of bacon fiom . •eiunark has been s mply marvellous, “olard h' s also shown a remarkable development of her exports for the first nine months of 1931, amounting to 2i,790 tons, compared with 10,763 tons Cast year.