Car making hit

THE MG Rover crisis continued to hit UK car production last month, with the number of cars made dipping 7.2 per cent.

Car production reached 144,252 units in June, 2005, compared with 155,451 in June, 2004, the Office for National Statistics said.

Production for the home market fell 30 per cent in June 2005, but export production rose 2.5per cent.

Get trolleyed

ALCOHOL could be on sale 24-hours-a-day in hundreds of supermarkets across the UK, it emerged.

Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda are hoping to take advantage of new drinking laws to sell alcohol round the clock instead of between 8am and 11pm.

Sliding orders

A SURPRISE pick-up in demand from overseas failed to take the heat off manufacturers after it emerged order books continued to suffer.

The Confederation of British Industry's Industrial Trends Survey found manufacturers reported a fall in new orders for the third successive quarter.

Crash unlikely

BANKING giant Halifax reassured homeowners that a crash in the UK property market was unlikely by forecasting a two per cent fall in house prices this year.

Halifax said the market remained "sound" as interest rates are low and set to fall to 4.25 per cent by the end of 2005, employment is higher and mortgage payments account for only a fifth of incomes of new buyers.