Business and City Summary

Chrysler beats competitors

Chrysler, the third-ranking US car maker, reported profits of dollars 202m ( pounds 127m) for the third quarter, making two consecutive quarterly gains while its competitors continue to sustain large losses.

Citicorp recovery

Strong foreign exchange trading earnings enabled Citicorp, the largest bank in the US, to report a dollars 116m ( pounds 73m) profit in the third quarter, despite loan-loss charges of more than dollars 900m, following an dollars 885m loss in the same period last year.

Underwriter axed

KPH Underwriting Agencies at the Lloyd's insurance market said it sacked its underwriter, David King, 60, from acting for insurance syndicate 745, managed by the agency, and as a director of the agency company.

Ofgas attacks

Ofgas, the gas watchdog, has accused British Gas of trying to renege on its commitment to keep domestic gas bills to inflation minus 5 percentage points.

Bank go-ahead

The Department of Trade and Industry has cleared First National Bank's acquisition of Henry Ansbacher.

Oil firms fined

Fines of Fr10m-Fr30m ( pounds 1.3m- pounds 3.8m) have been imposed on Royal Dutch/Shell, Exxon Corp's Esso SAF and Elf Aquitaine for restricting lead-free 98-octane petrol sales.

IBCA taken over

A French investment management group, Centenaire Blanzy, has taken control of the UK IBCA credit-rating agency and French Euronotation- France SA agency.

Dalgety pay rise

Maurice Warren, chief executive of Dalgety, the food and agribusiness group, saw his salary rise from pounds 274,023 to pounds 325,304 last year.

Hanson coal buy

Costain has confirmed that Peabody, the Hanson subsidiary, is to pay pounds 123m for its Australian mining business. It will also take on pounds 53m of borrowings, halving Costain's debt.

Car jobs at risk

German car makers have warned that high production costs and recession could lead to the loss of 200,000 jobs.

4,200 face sack

McDonnell Douglas plans to make redundant almost half the 4,200 workers building its MD-11 widebody jet.

MMI sell-off

Municipal Mutual Insurance, the council insurer, has sold its computer facilities management business to CFM Group.

World Markets

New York: Early gains were wiped out. By the close the Dow Jones Average was down 2.43 points at 3,186.02.

Hong Kong: Shares closed lower in a technical correction. The Hang Seng index shed 1.40 points to close at 6,088.51.

Tokyo: Japanese shares ended slightly higher on index-linked buying in thin trading. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 83.85 points at 16,987.66.

Sydney: Bargain hunters pushed the All-Ordinaries index 9.3 points higher to 1,426.9.

Johannesburg: Equity prices rallied in thin trade to lift the overall index by 58 points to 3,000.

Frankfurt: German shares closed sharply higher in active trading, on speculation that the Bundesbank would lower interest rates. The DAX closed 32.48 points higher at 1,511.55.

Paris: Share prices soared in active trading on hopes of lower interest rates. The CAC-40 index finished 52.20 points higher at 1,731.26.

London: Report, page 25.