TREND OF BRITISH TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1928, Page 9

TREND OF BRITISH TRADE

REVIVAL ON THE EXCHANGE DEVELOPMENT IN WOOLLENS SLUMP IN RUBBER SHARES By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. London, April 7. The most noticeable feature of the short week on the Stock Exchange has been the remarkable strength of the gilt-edged section under the combined influence of easy money conditions and the announcement of the revenue returns, which showed a surplus for the financial year of over £4,000,000. All the British funds showed an improvement. War loan (5 per cent.) reached 103, the highest quotation since 1924, and colonials have been in good demand at higher prices. There has also been a revival of activity in industrials, the only weak spot being rubbers, which slumped on Mr. Baldwin’s restriction announcement, prices being marked down heavily, but without much actual selling. The rubber outlook at the moment is very obscure, and, as the Financial Times points out: "The decision to terminate restriction is too recent for reasoned views to have been formed.” The Financial Times continued: "The long view is that when the inevitable initial period of unsettlement has passed and calmer conditions prevail, the .strength of British-owned estates under the new conditions will be realised and market values will respond. The short view at the moment is that-both rubber and share prices will decline, but even this should not be accepted slavishly.” One of the most important Stock Exchange firms which specialises in rubber shares mentions the heavy demand for rhe United States accounts as a noticeably feature in the sharemarket, transatlantic interests being prepared to take all the shares offered at sacrificing prices. The same thing occurred in February, when the market weakened after Mr. Baldwin’s ini tial announcement, from which the firm deduces that whoever may have lost faith in the future of the British planting industry it is not the Amercans. The fall in rubber prices is causing motorists to wonder how long it will be before the prices of tyres are reduced. Inquiries of a number of leading manufacturers have not resulted in any definite promise of an early reduction, although it is admitted that the question must be considered. The managing director of one tyre company said that no reduction was likely at present, but he was disposed to look for a possible 20 per cent, drop in prices towards the end of the year, but not before.

Bradford textile men are expressing dissatisfaction with the way the alteration in the Australian tariff has been pushed through Parliament. A writer in the Yorkshire Post says: “Determined efforts are being made, and much money is being spent to encourage trading within the Empire. The immense sums which the Australians draw every year from us in payment for wool alone are regarded as a sufficient reason why some official notification should have been given us of the intention to alter the duty on certain worsted piece goods to our detriment. A contrast is inevitably made with the consideration given by the Canadians, who do not draw from this district nearly as much money as the Australians. The cause of Empire trading is not likely to be promoted by what the Australians have done. The Australians’ desire to develop their own domestic wool textile industry is appreciated in this district, but, in the case of such wool textiles as they cannot make themselves and are obliged to import, they might have increased the measure of . preference given goods made in this country. That would have been more in harmony with the schemes for the development of trade within the Empire.”