In the face of such adverse factors, the banks are to be congratulated on making such a good showing. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation paid a final dividend of £2 10s, making £5 per share for the year, a decline of 10s as compared with 1938. This was due to a heavy decline in the exchange value of the Shanghai dollar, necessarily involving a heavy decline in the Hongkong dollar value of the bank's investments in Shanghai—a loss which was met out of the year's earnings. The Chartered Bank paid a dividend of 10 [per cent, which compares with 10 [per cent. for 1938, and 14 per cent. narrow range. The cross-rate on London opened at 3.75 and closed at the same level, compared with yesterday's final level of 3.80. The trading range for the day was 3.80 and 3.74.
The French franc remained steady, finishing at 2.18, against yesterday's close of 2.17—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.