News of the Company's assumption of the Diwani arrived in London on 19 April 1766, and the stockmarket, always a sensitive barometer on such occasions, responded in positive fashion at once. The price of Company stock rose from 165 in mid-April to 186 by mid-June, and by September it had reached 200. ‘More money’, commented Lloyd's Evening Post on 28 April, ‘was made on the buying and selling of India stock following the late good news from Lord Clive than at any time during the late war.’ That was a fair assessment of the situation, but this episode was in fact only the prelude to a bout of sustained speculation in India stock which was to last for three years until it was abruptly halted in 1769. Over a quarter of the Company's nominal share capital changed hands during May 1766 alone, as investors and speculators bought up stock in the hope that the financial fruits of Clive's success would be made available to them in the form of increased dividend payments. They were to be disappointed, however, because the following month the Court of Directors refused to bow to pressure and argued, quite correctly, that the Diwani revenues were as yet a potential and not a realized Company asset. Accordingly, despite loud protests from some of the Company's new stockholders, the dividend remained at 6 per cent.