Business and City in brief

BRITISH STEEL DENIES DUMPING

Steelmakers in the US filed 48 dumping suits and 36 countervailing duty petitions against steel companies from 21 countries with the International Trade Commission and US Commerce Department.

British Steel, one of the companies named in the actions, said it would 'vigorously contest' the allegations.

NATIONWIDE SLIPS

Nationwide Building Society is imposing new conditions on its FlexAccount current account. New customers will either have to maintain a minimum balance of pounds 500 or at least pounds 500 a month credited to their account. The account, with 1.3 million customers, has been losing money.

WELLCOME CLEARED

Wellcome said the German regulatory authorities had approved the over-the-counter sale of Zovirax, a cream for preventing cold sore blisters.

SHINING SEVEN

Only seven FT-SE 100 companies meet all the recommendations of the Cadbury committee on corporate governance on disclosure of directors' pay, according to a survey by the Monks Partnership. But more than three-quarters of companies disclose the existence of a remuneration committee as suggested in the draft report.

BASS BUYS

Bass, the brewing and hotels giant, has acquired 10 Ten Pin Bowling Centres from C J Barlow of Cork Gully, joint administrative receiver of Themes International and its subsidiaries.

AIR TRAFFIC UP

World air passenger traffic increased by 17 per cent in May compared with a year ago, the International Air Transport Association said. Freight traffic increased by 7 per cent.

WARBURG TOPS

The merchant bank S G Warburg has topped the league table of the most active financial adviser in UK takeovers in the first half this year. The bank handled transactions totalling pounds 4.3bn, according to a survey by Acquisitions Monthly. Schroders, with pounds 3.9bn, was second.

View from City Road, page 31

DEUTSCHE LEADS

Deutsche, the German bank, has emerged as the biggest manager of Eurobond issues in the first half of 1992. It handled issues totalling dollars 16.4bn, a 9.1 per cent market share. The bank held sixth position at the same time last year.

RUSSIAN SELL-OFF

President Boris Yeltsin of Russia signed a decree to speed up the privatisation of state-owned firms. The decree, which aims to turn state firms into shareholding companies within four months, affects all companies except state-owned farms.

WORLD MARKETS

NEW YORK: Continued hopes of an interest rate cut pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 34.58 points to 3,354.10 at the close.

TOKYO: Slightly easier short- term money rates helped to trigger a late rebound, sending the Nikkei average 373.34 points higher to 16,325.07.

HONG KONG: Still powering on into uncharted territory, the Hang Seng index gained 30.83 points to a record 6,134.75.

SYDNEY: Renewed hopes of an interest rate cut enabled the All Ordinaries index to add three points to 1,647.7 in thin trade.

JOHANNESBURG: The overall index eased four points to 3,651.

PARIS: Despite a late rebound on Wall Street's firm opening, the CAC-40 index ended 19.71 points weaker at 1,880.92.

FRANKFURT: A directionless session left the DAX index 3.63 points firmer at 1,756.26.

ISTANBUL: An eighth consecutive day of gains took the index up 35.37 points to 4,442.6, the highest for nearly five months.

LONDON: Report, page 31.