Business and City Summary

Ex-Salomon man indicted for fraud

Paul Mozer, former head bond trader at Salomon Brothers, was indicted for securities fraud by a federal grand jury.

Court papers allege Mr Mozer induced the US Treasury to issue five-year notes to Salomon it would not have otherwise issued. The papers charge that Mr Mozer did this to obtain unlawful profits for Salomon and himself.

TSB strike

The Banking, Insurance and Finance Union has called a second one-day stoppage on 22 January over 1,000 planned job losses at TSB banking group.

French inflation

French inflation slowed in 1992 to 2 per cent, the lowest rate in 36 years, the National Statistics Institute said.

Dutch dump gold

The Dutch central bank said it sold 400 tonnes of gold late last year. When completed next month, the forward deals will earn the bank about dollars 4.1bn. Its reserves will fall to 40 per cent from 59 per cent last April.

Yeutter for BAT

Clayton Yeutter, former US secretary of agriculture and trade representative, will join the board of BAT Industries as a non-executive director. BAT also announced the retirement of Ray Pritchard, a director.

Oil price slips

Brent crude February futures fell 41 cents to dollars 17.01 a barrel in late trading in London, triggered by a technical sell-off in the US.

Bentsen pledge

Lloyd Bentsen, US Treasury secretary-designate, vowed to make 'major, major' cuts in the budget deficit, saying that the US deficit was robbing the savings of the country.

Deficit narrows

Germany's current account deficit narrowed to DM700m ( pounds 280m) in November from a revised deficit of DM1.5bn in October. In western Germany, the cost of living rose a revised 0.1 per cent in December, 3.7 per cent up on the previous year.

Japan loses shine

Foreign investors bought Japanese shares worth Y841.01bn ( pounds 4.3bn) in 1992, down from Y5,620bn in 1991, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said.

Jet set sags New civil aircraft orders worldwide slipped 3 per cent to 581 last year, and of the big three jet producers only Airbus Industrie lifted sales, according to Flight International.

dollars 2.4bn EC boost

The European Community approved plans for a dollars 2.4bn fund to help to boost the trading bloc's ailing economies.

World markets

New York: The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered heavy earlier losses to close up 1.89 points at 3,264.64 in moderate trading.

Tokyo: Index-linked buying took the Nikkei average up 91.5 points to 16,681.05.

Hong Kong: Amid continuing concern over Sino-British relations, the Hang Seng index lost 1.84 points to 5,673.1.

Sydney: With investors waiting for clear trends to emerge, the All Ordinaries index slipped 4.7 points to close at 1,509.4.

Johannesburg: A recovery by De Beers after early falls restricted the loss on the overall index to four points at 3,407.

Paris: Profit-taking took the market to its lowest level since before Christmas, with the CAC-40 index finishing at 1,796.76, a fall of 17.82 points.

Frankfurt: The DAX index ended a volatile session 1.77 points easier at 1,530.19.

Milan: A more hopeful mood prevailed, with a late rally reversing early declines.

London: Report, page 25.