I THOUGHT half pennies were cast out through the window years ago.

Why is then that the Chancellor in his budget put up a packet of ciggies by 17 AND A HALF pence? Will shop keepers round the figure down? I don't think so.

And why is petrol sold at 64.9p a litre? We don't have a .9 of a penny coin?

Another financial mystery is why the FTSE 100 stock market prices go up or down by say seven and a quarter, or half or threequarters pence?

Seems ludicrous to me. If anyone has the answer let me know.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.