Business and City Summary

Polish buy for US paper-maker

International Paper of the US has paid dollars 120m ( pounds 63.5m) to acquire 80 per cent of Poland's second-largest paper manufacturer.

IP has also agreed to spend an additional dollars 175m on modernisation and expansion of the Kwidzyn paper works by 1996. The purchase is thought to be the largest American private investment to date in Poland.

Airline launch

A new British airline, First European, will this autumn begin operating scheduled flights from Gatwick to Paris and Nice with four Airbus A320s. Backed by pounds 8.5m finance, the airline aims to carry 470,000 passengers in its first year.

Adviser named

KPMG Peat Marwick has been appointed by the Department of Transport to advise on tax and accountancy aspects of the privatisation of British Rail.

Bass's last orders

Bass is close to complying with the Government's beer orders, which require it to sell 2,740 pubs by November. The company has sold 170 pubs to Marr Taverns, making 2,600 disposals so far.

Sun shines

Union des Assurances de Paris, the French insurer which owns half of Sun Life, reported a 39 per cent increase in its life premium income to Fr32bn ( pounds 3.4bn). The integration of Sun Life's results was the main reason behind the increase.

Daily delay

The choice of the next publisher of the New York Daily News will not now be finalised before the end of the week. Negotiations with employees about a dollars 300m offer by Conrad Black failed to reach a conclusion yesterday.

Matra go-ahead

The European Commission has cleared plans by Canada's Northern Telecom to acquire joint control of the telecommunications arm of Matra of France.

Vietnam books

Vietnam has received its first commercial ship container from the United States since the Vietnam war - filled with American business books.

Copper increase

RTZ, the mining group, said copper production rose to 141,000 tonnes in the quarter to 30 June, up from 122,900 tonnes a year earlier.

Wace

On 10 August it was wrongly stated that Wace is the subject of a Serious Fraud Office enquiry. Companies linked to Wace are the subject of a Department of Trade and Industry inquiry.

World Markets

New York: Weakness in world markets and futures activity pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 6.48 points to close at 3,331.10.

Tokyo: The Nikkei average plunged below 15,000 for the first time since March 1986, losing 243.78 to close at 14,822.56.

Hong Kong: With a slight lift from futures, the Hang Seng index firmed 10.7 to 3,164.14.

Sydney: The All Ordinaries index lost 4.6 to 1,587.6 on weakness in the Australian dollar.

Bombay: Despite late profit- taking, the index ended 24.44 points higher at 2,693.42.

Johannesburg: De Beers' prediction of a substantial dividend cut saw 3.2bn rands ( pounds 600m) wiped off the value of shares. The overall index dropped 37 points to 3,309.

Frankfurt: The DAX index hit a year's low of 1,564.6 as a 17.95-point fall brought losses to 11.4 per cent in five weeks.

Paris: Shares drifted lower in lethargic trade, with the CAC- 40 index 17.42 easier at 1,737.8.

London: Report, page 21.