LONDON MARKETS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 August 1938, Page 6

LONDON MARKETS

RELUCTANT DOWNWARD TREND LITTLE SERIOUS SELLING. EUROPEAN IMPROVEMENT MISTRUSTED. (Recd This Day, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, August 19. Despite the disquieting international situation, the stock markets are paying most attention to America. The trend of home trade has been reluctantly downward, but there is little serious selling. Pressure of business has- been reduced to a slender proportion without greatly depressing-prices. City business men. take an adverse view regarding the future of gilt-edged securities. Occasional purchases under the influence of a supposed improvement in the European situation have been insufficient to support prices. The heavy recent decline in industrial activity has resulted in industrial production being now down to the level of early 1936. The demand for gold, though far from the panic levels of last week, remains abnormal though hoarding appears to be declining. The French authorities launched a vigorous campaign against franc speculators so successfully that discounts of all periods fell rapidly. The “Daily Telegraph” says the recovery on the' Berlin Bourse has not surprised the city, as shares have fallen to levels that are attractive to those still retaining faith in the prospects of German industry. The Bourse business, however, is slight, the few shares offered being readily absorbed. German business men ascribe the recovery to better business and the news of decreasing international tension.