The Year on ’Change

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 543, 21 December 1928, Page 12

The Year on ’Change

What Comparisons Reveal By “Noon Call” YESTERDAY the New Zealand Stock Exchange closed down for the Christmas vacation. Making as they do a true register of the industrial and financial progress of the Dominion, the middle prices at the close of 1927 show an interesting trend over the period, when compared with the figures at tlie close of 1928. Industrial conditions, generally, have brightened, while interest rates are easier.

d )NE of the features of the year has been the renewal of confidence in concerns dealing with the man on the land. At the close of last year shares in these concerns were more or less under a cloud, and shunned by the majority of investors as too uncertain. This year a wide range of shares in the section has been listed, and several marked rises have taken place. * * * / Banks and insurances, registering the general financial position of the Dominion, have met with a firm demand throughout the year, and practically without exception show an advance in price and a lower immediate return on investment at current rates. Advances have been particularly marked in the market for insurances. * * * In coals, holders of Pukemiros, lienow ns and Hikurangis at last year’s closing rates have been given the opportunity for taking a substantial profit. Other coals have been steady, the only scrip in the section to fall from favour being Waipas, which, sought at 16s last year, cannot now be placed at^l3s. Shipping and timbers have both suffered reverses, and the general trend of the market, where it has not remained stationary, has been down-

ward. This has been particularly the case in regard to timbers. * * * The miscellaneous section shows some big rises. British Tobaccos, Burns Philp, Colonial Sugar, New Zealand Farmers’ Fertilisers, and Wilsons Cements have all proved good holding, showing substantial rises on last year’s prices. The biggest drops have taken place in the more speculative securities, such as Checker Taxis and Auckland Amusement Park. Government and local body debentures met with a steady demand throughout the year on a market with a gradual trend toward lower interest rates. As the writer pointed out in a review earlier in the week, the biggest returns have come to those who bought, not so much on immediate prospects, but looked more to the standing of the company, its spread of interests, and the possibilities of future disbursements. Conservatively managed, financial and industrial concerns, generally, have fared well throughout the year. Below is a comparison of prices at the close of 1927, compared with those at tlie close of 1928. An endeavour has been made to give the approximate market price of the scrip in every instance.