Business and City in Brief

Bundesbank hails end of recession

Recessionary tendencies in the western German economy appear to have been overcome, the Bundesbank said in its June monthly report. It said the trend for inflation remained downward.

Exports provided the main drive for the recovery, with companies showing a level of confidence in overseas trade not seen for years, the report added.

Stamp of disapproval

Seven out of 10 people oppose any form of privatisation of the Post Office and 56 per cent of Tory voters are against the Government's proposals, according to a Mori poll for the Union of Communication Workers.

New forecast due

The Treasury will publish a new forecast of the UK economy on 28 June. It is expected to show the economy growing at around 3 per cent, up from the 2.5 per cent predicted in the November Budget.

Japan trims surplus

Japan's trade surplus in May narrowed to dollars 6.5bn from dollars 7.8bn in the same month last year. Exports were dollars 28.1bn, up from dollars 26.94bn last year with imports rising to dollars 21.5bn (dollars 19.2bn).

Avro chief named

British Aerospace has appointed Michael Donovan the first chief executive of its Avro regional jet company in Woodbridge, near Manchester. Mr Donovan, who is managing director (commercial) for Rolls- Royce Motor Cars, will join Avro in August.

pounds 1.2bn in levy

Subsidies of more than pounds 1.2bn for the nuclear and renewable energy industries were raised in 1993/94 through a 10 per cent levy on household electricity bills in England and Wales.

Less whine in water

Customer complaints to Ofwat, the water industry regulator, fell in 1993/94 for the first time. In its annual report, Ofwat said it had received 14,302 complaints compared with 14,792 in the same period for 1992/93.

Bloomsbury hurdle

Bloomsbury Publishing, whose authors include Will Self and Sally Gunnell, is raising pounds 2.72m net of expenses, through a placing of 5.3 million shares at 105p each, valuing the company at pounds 9m.

Freeze on freezers

A Danish court has banned Unilever from removing freezers selling rival Mars products from shops in the latest round of a European ice cream war.

New York: Blue chips gained in an otherwise flat market ahead of today's triple witching hour, with the Dow Jones average closing 20.93 points up at 3,811.34.

Tokyo: Futures-linked buying in light trade saw the Nikkei average add 84.51 to 21,367.47.

Hong Kong: With investors sidelined after Wall Street's overnight decline, the Hang Seng index gave up 126.6 to 9,022.92.

Sydney: Renewed weakness in bonds depressed the market, with the All Ordinaries index retreating 18.4 points to 2,056.

Bombay: Buying from local and foreign investors carried the index up 40.36 points to 4,164.06.

Johannesburg: Gold shares recorded strong gains on the rising bullion price, with other sectors remaining steady. The overall index gained 27 points to 5,774.

Frankfurt: A slight recovery in bonds took shares off their lows, leaving the DAX index with a 19.79-point fall at 2,054.91.

Paris: Heavy losses throughout the session left the CAC-40 23.58 weaker at a 1994 low of 1,942.81.

Zurich: Following the trend on other European bourses, the SPI lost 19.58 points to 1,759.75.

London: Report, page 30.