Business and City in Brief

Narrow money goes over target

The narrow measure of money supply M0 rose by a seasonally adjusted 5.4 per cent in the year to October, the highest rate in over three years, the Bank of England said. This is above the 4 per cent ceiling of the Government's 'monitoring range'.

Britain's reserves of gold and foreign currency rose by an underlying dollars 32m in the same month, according to separate figures from the Treasury.

Trust fails

Johnson Fry's efforts to raise corporate capital for Lloyd's of London have failed. Its Corporate Insurance Recovery Trust, a 'fund of funds' investing in other Lloyd's trusts, raised pounds 8m against a minimum level of pounds 15m. The money will be returned to the 1,250 investors, Johnson Fry said.

Virgin settles lawsuit

A lawsuit brought by Virgin Island-based Virgin Air against Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways has been settled out of court, Virgin Atlantic said. It said Virgin Air had agreed to change its name and to dismiss all charges of trademark infringement and unfair competition against Virgin Atlantic.

Land bond

British Land has launched a pounds 150m Eurobond issue through SG Warburg. The issue of unsecured bonds 2023, which pay an 8.875 per cent coupon, will extend the average maturity of BL's total debt to more than 20 years.

US boost

The US index of leading indicators, a pointer to future economic trends, rose 0.5 per cent in September after advancing almost 1 per cent in the previous month. The figure supports other data suggesting prospects for faster growth have improved.

Liffe record

Liffe recorded its second consecutive record month with 10.47 million contracts during October, up 47 per cent on October last year. Average daily volume was 498,511 futures and options contracts, representing a daily turnover of pounds 106.8bn.

Dollars 77m tax damages

A Houston jury awarded dollars 77m in punitive damages against the accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche for gross negligence in a tax case concerning 10,358 investors in a cattle-feeding limited partnership.

New network

Tribune Broadcasting and Warner Bros, a subsidiary of Time Warner, will launch a prime-time US television network next autumn. The announcement comes a week after Paramount Communications and Chris-Craft Industries announced plans to form a broadcast television network to be launched in January 1995.

Unichem expands

Unichem, the pharmaceutical wholesaler and retailer, has bought nine pharmacies in the north east England for 3.4m. Its Moss Chemists retailing subsidiary now has 253 outlets.

World Markets

New York: Wall Street finished on another record high despite early losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 5.03 points at 3,697.64.

Tokyo: Shares gave up early gains, with the Nikkei average slipping 57 points to 19,381.24.

Hong Kong: Lower turnover saw the Hang Seng index extend its record-breaking streak with a 13.72-point gain to 9,642.91.

Sydney: Light profit-taking after Monday's gains took the All Ordinaries down 7.1 to 2,125.3.

Bombay: Dull trade saw the index ease 9.03 points to 2,612.25.

Johannesburg: Industrials maintained their upward trend and gold shares shrugged off the softer bullion price. The overall index rose seven points to 3,914.

Frankfurt: Prices closed sharply higher across the board as investors re-entered the market. The DAX advanced 33.46 to 2,095.58.

Paris: The CAC-40 index gave up 12.24 points to 2,169.71.

Milan: Shares eased, led by Olivetti after the arrest of its chairman, Carlo de Benedetti.

London: Report, page 34.