Business and City in Brief

New York: Stocks closed higher as Wall Street hoped the rate rise would be the last credit tightening for some time. The Dow Jones industrial index was up 24.28 points to close at 3,784.57.

Tokyo: Speculation over a US interest rate rise boosted shares. The Nikkei average ended up 160.03 points to 20,786.36.

Hong Kong: Rate fears hit stocks with the Hang Seng index sliding 119.51 points to 9,366.62.

Sydney: Investor worry over US rates sent the All Ordinaries Index down 15.7 points to 2040.0.

Bombay: The BSE rose 19.44 points to a record of 4,527.59 points on speculative buying.

Johannesburg: Shares ended lower on lack of interest ahead of a US move. The overall index closed 27 points down at 5,762.

Paris: Business was light after yesterday's holiday. The CAC-40 index rose 5.40 points to 2,012.35.

Frankfurt: Investors were sidelined ahead of news from the FOMC meeting. The DAX closed up 4.30 points at 2,143.14.

Zurich: Share prices closed higher after a slow start. The Swiss Performance Index rose 9.64 to 1,719.92.

London: Report, page 26.

Emap offer goes unconditional

Fewer than 1 per cent of non- aligned shareholders in Trans World, the radio group, have so far accepted the pounds 70m offer for the company made by Emap, the publishing group. Emap, which yesterday declared its bid unconditional, already has control of the group as before making its offer it had secured the acceptance of Owen Oyston, who has 22.1 per cent. It already owned 29.6 per cent of Trans World.

Emap now controls 52.7 per cent of Trans World and its offer will remain open until further notice.

Window opportunity

Bowater, the packaging and building group, is to pay up to pounds 39.75m for the Midlands windows fabricator WH Smith & Sons. The move follows sterling's devaluation against the mark, making imported German window frames more expensive. Bowater is paying pounds 34.75m now and up to pounds 5m more, depending on sales and profits in 1995.

Pension awards

The Pensions Ombudsman awarded pounds 900,000 last year to 44 people. The highest amount was pounds 190,000 and the rest were between pounds 50 and pounds 70,000. Michael Platt said that most problems with company pension schemes involved inefficiency rather than fraud. In the year to March he received 2,179 complaints, about the same level as the previous two years.

Mergers down

The value of acquisitions and mergers in Britain fell from pounds 2.7bn in the first quarter of the year to pounds 1.6bn in the second, according to the Central Statistical Office.

Industrial units sold

Slough Estates has bought the Grand Union Industrial Estate at Park Royal, London, from the British Rail Pension Trustees for pounds 5.5m. The estate's 10 industrial units, totalling 99,000 square feet, are fully let and show a yield of about 9 per cent.

Intel expanding

Intel, the semi-conductor chip manufacturer, said it was planning another dollars 2bn worth of plant capacity in Oregon.

Joint media venture

PTT of the Netherlands, Philips' Dutch media unit, and Graff Pay-Per-View of the US are to set up a European joint media venture. The company will develop capabilities for new media services, multi-media pay-per-view and video on demand. It will be owned 45 per cent by Philips, 35 per cent by Dutch PTT and 20 per cent by Graff, according to Philips.