Vancouver breaks all records despite market volatility in ’87

It was a year of highs and lows for investors on Vancouver’s Stock Exchange. The vse set new records in nearly all areas of its trading activity in 1987, but ended the year reeling from the impact of October’s market crash.

The number of shares traded was at an all-time high of 4.8 billion, surpassing last year’s record of 3.5 billion shares by 37%. Share value shot to $6.7 billion, up 48% over the 1986 record of $4.5 billion. Transactions for the year, at a record 3.1 million, were up 37% over the 2.3 million trades in 1986.

But the trading strengths of the first part of the year fizzled after the world market crash in mid- October.

On May 8, the vse Index closed at an all-time high of 2015.48, eclipsing last year’s record close (1471.35, Sept 5,1986) by 37%. With October’s volatile market activity however, the index closed the year down at 1150.02, dipping 15% below the 1986 close of 1353.63.

As ever, Vancouver trading was influenced by the price of gold, which reached its 1987 high in December and closed the year up 30% from the end of 1986.

Financings for 1987 reached a landmark $1.3 billion, nearly doubling last year’s record of $696.2 million. Private placements accounted for 80.8% of the financing dollars, secondary financings for 9% and initial distributions for 10.2%.

Of the $1.1 billion raised through private placements, 35.4% came from investors in western Canada, 27.2% from eastern Canada, 26.8% from Europe, 5.3% from the United States, and 5.3% from other countries such as Australia and Hong Kong.

Of the 2,455 companies listed on the vse at year-end, 307 were new listings compared to 182 in 1986. Most active traders (by volume) were: Kam Creed Mines, Tungco Resources, Tundra Gold Mines, Mintel International and International Rhodes Resources.

Highlighting the vse year was construction of its new Computerized Trading System. After almost three years of planning and $6 million in expenditures, the system will be fully operational by April. Incorporating the latest in trading technology, it will offer more accurate and timely quotations, faster execution of trades, better depth of market information and other benefits to users. The vse has also installed a new ibm 3090-180 mainframe computer and software at a cost of $6.2 million.