Business and City in Brief

Japanese drive for market share

Three Japanese firms expect to account for a third of Britain's car production by 2000 as they look for export markets beyond mainland Europe, according to an official from Honda Motor.

'At the end of the century, when the Honda, Nissan Motor and Toyota Motor are in full operation and manufacturing some 650,000 cars, Britain's car production is expected to be about 2 million units,' Koichiro Yoshizawa, Honda's former chairman and adviser, said.

Derivatives warning

Deutsche Bank has proposed that global players in the derivatives market should join forces to prevent possible losses spilling over into other financial markets. The big participants should have a contingency plan, allocate responsibilities and form an international committee to watch the market, the bank said. 'This committee would have the task not only of preventing risks, but also of replacing the lost link in the chain, because frequently the repair of a system only founders on the lack of liquidity.'

Phone merger

The dollars 12.6bn merger between American Telephone & Telegraph and McCaw Communications cleared its final hurdle as the Federal Communications Commission approved the deal that will unite the US's largest long-distance phone company with the largest cellular company.

Mobile Cable

Cable and Wireless says it is examining prospects for a mobile telephone service called PHS in Japan. Earlier, a Japanese Trade and Industry Ministry official said a British firm wanted to join a Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp project based on an offshoot of cellular technology.

Coal transfer

Powers to license coal operations and the ownership of Britain's coal reserves will transfer to the Coal Authority from British Coal on 31 October, according to Charles Wardle, Energy and Industry Minister. He also confirmed the appointment of Sir David White as chairman of the Coal Authority.

Allied change

Allied-Lyons, the food and drinks group, has changed its name to Allied Domecq following the acquisition of Spanish drinks group Pedro Domecq for dollars 1.1bn in May, which made Allied the world's second-largest spirits producer.

Money growth

Japan's broadly defined money supply average grew a preliminary 2 per cent in August from a year earlier, the Bank of Japan said. This compared with a revised final figure of an increase of 2 per cent in July.

World Markets

New York: In light trading shares failed to hold best levels, and by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 3.37 points at 3,936.72.

Tokyo: Bouts of index-linked selling sent the Nikkei average tumbling 242.15 points to a 24-week low of 19,554.11.

Hong Kong: Late selling on fears about the Wall Street outlook took the Hang Seng index down 167.09 points to 9,801.43.

Sydney: Buying support for industrial, oil and gas stocks restricted the fall on the All Ordinaries to 9.9 points at 2,049.1.

Bombay: Sustained profit-taking after recent highs lowered the index 63.82 points to 4,553.79.

Johannesburg: The falling gold price helped to send the overall index down 67 points to 5,763.

Frankfurt: Extending losses sustained in Friday's post-bourse trading, the DAX index surrendered 21.97 points to 2,096.76.

Paris: Shares ended a volatile, interest rate-dominated session mixed, with the CAC-40 index just 1.72 points easier at 1,922.87.

Zurich: A technical reaction to last week's losses lifted the SPI 8.37 points to close at 1,731.99.

London: Report, page 16.