Financial Notes
QUIET MARKETS.
IT has been possible during the past week to deal in securities for the " new " account, that is to say for the account extend- ing into the New Year. Not infrequently there is a disposition on the part of speculative operators to acquire shares towards the end of the year in anticipation of the optimism which usually prevails amongst investors at the beginning of a new year. Up to the present, however, dealings of this nature have been upon a very meagre scale, a fact not altogether surprising, when it is remembered that in almost every department of the Stock Exchange prices have risen greatly during the past year, while in the second place, although tension with regard to possible developments in the Saar Basin in January is less pronounced, there is still sufficient anxiety to cause speculators to hesitate about opening speculative positions for January. In spite, however, of the slackness of business the general tone of markets has kept firm ; consols and kindred stocks are still affected by the cheapness of money, while gold-mining shares attract considerable attention by reason of the high interest yields obtainable on the basis of recent dividend announcements.
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