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Railway  is  geographically  Asiatic,  but  its
guaranteed  stock,  being  a  British  Trustee
investment,  moves  solely  in  sympathy  with
British  trading  and  financial  conditions.
Where  different  countries  are  equally  large
holders  of  particular  stocks,  as,  for  example,
in  the  case  of  certain  South  American  issues,
the  geographical  position  of  the  security  itself
becomes  of  greater  importance.  The  purchases
of  such  stock  caused  by  surplus  profits  derived
from  the  good  trade  of  one  of  the  interested
countries  may  be  neutralised  by  the  sales
caused  by  the  bad  trade  of  another  ;  so  that
the  purchases  or  sales  of  the  issuing  country
itself  exercise  a  greater  influence  than  might
otherwise  be  the  case.  Moreover,  as  a  country
develops  and  increases  in  wealth,  it  is  bound
to  exercise  a  greater  control  over  its  own  stocks
wherever  they  are  held.  For  not  only  does  the
resultant  increased  security  appeal  to  the
foreign  holder,  but  the  investing  public  of  that
country  is  itself  in  a  position  to  extend  the
purchases  of  its  own  stocks.
We  have  now  explained  how  the  course  of
trade  dominates  the  values  of  investments  and
how  this  otherwise  all-powerful  influence  can
be  nullified  by  the  special  conditions  of  a
stock’s  ownership.  The  natural  exceptions  to
the  rule  are  rare,  and  so  great  is  the  financial