I am in a translation class and the sentence contains this phrase can you tell me what it means
The city was brutal in its reaction wiping 50 3/4p off the share price
what does 50 3/4p stand for
Probably "points", which has several definitions. It probably means $50.75 .
http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/points
There is a possibility it means British or Irish pence
When dealing with British or Irish (pound) money, amounts of the decimal "new pence" less than £1 may be suffixed with "p", as in 2p, 5p, 26p, 72p. Pre-1971 amounts of less than 1/- (one shilling) were denoted with a "d" which derived from the term "denarius", as in 2d, 6d, 10d.