Financial Notes
RISE IN GOLD SHARES.
WHILE the general tone of the Stock Markets during the past week has been quite good, the outstanding feature has been the activity and strength of South African Gold Mining shares. This has been due, in the first place, to a further rise in the price of gold, but that rise, in its turn, has been connected with the fall in sterling on the basis of the franc ex- change, and these conditions in their turn have probably been considerably influenced by the monetary policy in the United States. Uncertainty over a long period concerning the future value of currencies has had the effect of making people seek protection either in the hoarding of gold or in the purchase of Gold Mining shares, and it has to be admitted that up to the present the policy has proved advantageous to those who have acted upon it. Gold itself has steadily appre- ciated in value, so that those who purchased many months ago could now secure a large profit by selling, while market prices of Mining shares have, in many instances, doubled and trebled during the last two years.
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