15 JUNE 1929, Page 34

Financial Notes

CHEERFUL MARKETS.

RELIEF that the General Election is behind us and satisfaction with regard to the agreement at the Reparations Conference have produced cheerful stock markets during the past week. Moreover, a final influence has been imparted in greater hopes of a reduction in the speculative movement in Wall Street where conditions, if still abnormal, appear to be somewhat less disquieting than a few months ago. High-class invest- ment stocks have been firm, while English Railways have rallied a little, apparently on hopes that in any schemes for helping unemployment attempts may be made to bring about an increase in railway traffic. Rumours of guaranteed loans for electrification schemes and for improvement of goods transport may be nothing but rumours, but they have served slightly to stimulate the market. Petri passu with the steadiness of investment stocks there has been a good deal of speculation during the week in some of the Oil shares, and also in mining issues. The former market has been stimu- lated by the surprisingly good dividend statement by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, while in the Mining section the feature has been the continued activity and strength of Rhodesian descriptions.

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