Business and City in Brief

LIFE OFFICES CUT POLICY RETURNS

Three life offices, Equitable Life, Eagle Star and AXA Equity & Law, have reduced returns on with-profits endowment policies.

Eagle Star has cut returns on 10 and 25-year policies by 12.7 and 2.8 per cent; Equitable Life by 7.6 and 0.7 per cent; and Axa Equity & Law by 7.3 and 2.6 per cent.

PALLADIUM SOARS

European palladium prices soared dollars 6 to dollars 111.50 and platinum shed dollars 3.25 to dollars 343.65 when Allied-Signal in the US confirmed it had developed a new autocatalyst system that would cut precious metal content costs by 30-50 per cent. However, the precious metal refiner Johnson-Matthey said it had been aware of the technology 'for some time'.

NEW GM VICTIM

The controversy over General Motors pick-up trucks claimed another victim in the US with the resignation of Michael Gartner, president of the news division of the NBC television network, a subsidiary of General Electric. Last month, the network was obliged to apologise for having rigged the explosion of a GM pick-up in an investigative report.

ICI PAINTS DEAL

ICI Paints said it reached agreement with Lilly Industries of Indianapolis for the transfer of its US-based liquid industrial coatings business in exchange for an undisclosed sum and Lilly's packaging coatings business.

RAILWAY HOPES

Ernst & Young has been appointed as a consultant to examine privatising the loss-making Docklands Light Railway.

MORE OPEC OIL

Crude oil production by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose in February by 150,000 barrels a day to 25.32 million.

50m POUNDS BES PLAN

Britannia Building Society is hoping to raise pounds 50m via a Business Expansion Scheme to buy its repossessed properties.

GOING FOR BROKE

Bankruptcies in western Germany rose 16.4 per cent to 9,828 in 1992 from 8,446 a year earlier, while in eastern Germany 1,087 companies went to the wall in 1992, almost three times the number in 1991.

RECKITT EXPANDS

Reckitt & Colman expanded its European interests with the acquisition for an undisclosed amount of the Mantovani toiletry brand in Italy from Star.

AIRLINES LOOK UP

European airlines are seeing a revival in fortunes with overall traffic up 10 per cent in January against the same period in 1991.

WORLD MARKETS

NEW YORK: Demand for tobacco and consumer product shares propelled the Dow Jones Average 45.12 points higher to 3,400.53 by the close.

TOKYO: Late index-linked buying helped the Nikkei Average recoup early losses to close down 15.35 at 16,864.25.

HONG KONG: Renewed doubts over a British-Sino settlement lowered the Hang Seng index 54.59 to 6,344.23.

SYDNEY: Hopes of lower interest rates after the general election lifted the All Ordinaries index 5.7 to 1,645.

JOHANNESBURG: The overall index shed 26 to 3,397 on lack of interest.

FRANKFURT: Light profit-taking nudged the DAX index 4.21 lower at 1,696.74.

MILAN: The MIB index closed 1.19 per cent higher at 1,186 in heavy volume.

PARIS: Increasing hopes of lower German interest rates left the CAC-40 index 2.70 ahead at 2,001.50, its best level since 2 June last year.

LONDON: Report, page 25.