Business and City in Brief .TX.- Westpac questioned

The Australian Stock Exchange said it disagreed with Westpac's treatment of a Adollars 700m (pounds 250m) provision for bad and doubtful debts for the year to September 1991.

The exchange said it was concerned that the bank's accounts could have led to the belief that the increased provision was only a matter of prudence and not of necessity.

Car sales stall

August car sales figures, due out today, could be as low as 365,000, down slightly on 1991 and 35,000 below the more optimistic expectations.

Suspension lifted

Fimbra has lifted the suspension of Oldham Mortgage Consultants of Newick, East Sussex, as it has obtained adequate professional indemnity insurance and paid its annual fees.

Bulmer buy

The cider maker Bulmer has acquired Belgium's main cider producer, Cidrerie Stassen, which produces about 7 million litres a year against Bulmer's 170 million. Cidrerie Stassen said Bulmer would keep the Stassen family management.

Pizza to go

Whitbread is selling its Pizza Hut business in Belgium and the Netherlands, for cash, to Pizza Hut International.

Debenture delay

Inntrepreneur Estates has postponed a pounds 250m debenture until next spring.

Less Liffe

The number of futures and options contracts traded on Liffe in August fell 21 per cent to 5.8m.

Adviser banned

Fimbra has suspended Thomas Robert Oliver, who traded from Northland Row, Dungannon, Northern Ireland. Mr Oliver faces charges in relation to an application for a Department of Economic Development grant.

Bus stop

Sir brian Carsberg, director-general of the Office of Fair Trading, has referred Southdown Motor Services - Now Sussex Coastline Buses - to the MMC because of certain conduct in the course of operating services.

World markets

New York: Worries about today's employment figures all but erased sharp gains by blue chips. By close the Dow Jones was up 1.98 points at 3,292.20.

Frankfurt: Short-covering helped shares claw back most of the previous two days' losses. The 30-share DAX index rose 24.08 points to 1,530.75.

Milan: The MIB index fell 8 points to 728.

Paris: Hopes of a French approval of the Maastricht treaty combined with interest rate speculation to push the CAC- 40 index up 69.05 points to 1,780.46.

Madrid: The general index gained 6.48 points to 216.30.

Hong Kong: In one of the quietest days in weeks, the Hang Seng index finished down 11.99 points at 5,722.46.

Tokyo: The Nikkei average surged and ended up 798.77 points at 18,386.49.

Sydney: The All Ordinaries recovered from lows of around 1521 to close only 2.2 points down at 1526.3.