Australia: Nickel and Dime Boom

Stock fever has swept Australia, . which is going through the wildest wave of investment speculation in its history. In Melbourne's new 26-story exchange building last week, somber-suited businessmen, workmen in overalls and pig-tailed secretaries jostled each other in the gold-carpeted gallery to watch brokers screaming for 100, 200 and 500 shares of mining and oil companies. One day, trading on the Sydney exchange reached a record of nearly 36 million shares.

The boom was set off by a small but promising nickel find in the sand and spinifex of Western Australia....

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