Business and City in Brief

Paris move on Renault sale

The French Economy Minister, Edmond Alphandery, has appointed Caisse Nationale de Credit Agricole and Rothschild et Cie to advise the government on a 'change in the capital' of Renault.

The state-owned car company recently named Lazard Freres and Banque Nationale de Paris to advise it on its eventual privatisation. The government has not said when it might sell some or all of its stake.

Prudential loses

Prudential, the UK's biggest insurer, yesterday lost a series of industrial tribunal cases involving former sales staff who are claiming redundancy settlements. There are 450 further claims outstanding, which could cost the group as much as pounds 7m.

Binns store binned

House of Fraser will close its Binns store in Newcastle in January.

Ford prices to rise

Ford is raising the price of its UK cars by an average of 2 per cent from 15 August as a result of rising production costs.

Grand Met US sale

Grand Metropolitan's US subsidiary, Heublein, has completed the sale of its US wine brands to Canandaigua Wine Company for dollars 130m (pounds 84m).

Brussels inquiry

The European Commission has begun a dumping inquiry into exports of advertising matches from Japan, which European Union producers say have forced 220 redundancies and the closure of two factories.

Lloyd's transfer

Horace Holman, the Lloyd's insurance broker, has entered agreement with Lloyd's to transfer the future administration of the Estate Protection Plan to Centrewrite, under Lloyd's control.

New Russian banks

The Russian central bank said it licensed 38 new banks in July, but only a handful had received general licences or permission to open correspondent accounts with foreign banks.

Chiltern lapse

CLT UK Radio's offer for Chiltern Radio has lapsed. Shareholders in Chiltern who accepted the offer are no longer bound by their acceptance.

More Irish jobless

Irish unemployment rose 1.5 per cent to 283,700 in July from 279,600 in June, Central Statistics Office figures show.

World Markets

New York: A stronger-than-expected jobs report for July fanned fears of inflation and another increase in interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 18.77 points to end at 3,747.02.

Tokyo: Worries about US interest rates kept many investors sidelined. The Nikkei average lost 155.14 points to 20,521.7.

Hong Kong: Selective profit-taking in blue chips lowered the Hang Seng 40.64 to 9,602.21.

Sydney: Bargain-hunters pushed the All Ordinaries index up 8.4 points to 2,091.9.

Bombay: Selling by mutual funds wiped out early gains. The index gave up 12.65 to 4,288.34.

Johannesburg: The stronger gold price triggered a late surge, sending the overall index 41 points higher to close at 5,730.

Frankfurt: Daimler shares gained more than 1 per cent on US buying as the DAX index edged up 1.4 points to 2,194.76.

Paris: Recovering from a temporary fall after the US employment figures, the CAC-40 index ended 10.62 better at 2,107.07.

Zurich: Depressed by UBS's six-month figures, the Swiss Performance Index fell 6.3 to 1,726.23.

London: Report, page 13.