A TIGHT MARKET

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 999, 16 June 1930, Page 11

A TIGHT MARKET

DULLNESS ON EXCHANGE HEAVY FOREIGN DEMANDS LONDON, Sunday. The high hopes entertained a fortnight ago of an early reduction of the bank rate to 25 per cent, have been dashed to the ground by adverse movements on foreign exchanges, and heavy demands for gold from foreign countries, especially France. It now appears likely that stringent conditions will prevail in the money market all ' this month, and this expectation has caused renewed dullness on the Stock Exchange, especially in the gilt-edged market. The depression spread to other sections. The slump in Wall Street last weekend and the renewed weakness there have caused serious depression in industrial stocks, which has been accentuated by the poor results shown in the reports of many trading companies. Among those that have declared lower dividends are several connected with the Australian trade. For instance, Lovell and Christmas, who are large importers of Australian and New Zealand butter, state that “owing to a decrease in profits resulting from the fall in the value of commodities deaff in,” they will not pay a final dividend on the ordinary shares, the only distribution being an interim dividend of 2 per cent, paid in January. This company has been paying 10 per cent, dividend for some years past. The only satisfactory event of the week has been the success of the German reparation loan. The successful flotation in London and the Continental centres of their allocations in the first portion of the German reparation loan of about £60.000,000 has been the principal event. The 55 per cent, bonds were offered at 90. The lists were opened on Thursday morning and closed three hours later, the amount having been heavily oversubscribed.

The French, Swedish and Italian portions of the loan were also oversubscribed.