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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, May 29, 2000

Building contracts sink 42% in Hawaii

Contracts written last month for future construction in Hawaii slipped 42 percent in value, to $62.4 million, compared with $108.4 million in the April 1999, according to the F.W. Dodge division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, which monitors construction nationwide.

Nonresidential contracts, for commercial buildings, schools, hotels and other buildings in Hawaii, fell 90 percent to $4.4 million, from $44.5 million in April 1999. Contracts for residences slipped 2 percent to $41.3 million, from $42.2 million, and nonbuilding contracts, for such jobs as bridges and highways, were down 23 percent at $16.6 million, from $21.7 million in April 1999, F.W. Dodge, said.The total value of construction contracts written in Hawaii in the first four months of the year was $343.9 million, down 43 percent from a year-earlier $598.7 million, the company said.

City Bank to open 2nd Maui branch

City Bank plans to open a branch in Kihei's Kukui Mall on South Kihei Road on Saturday. It will be the bank's second Maui branch, joining the Kahului office.

City Bank is a subsidiary of Honolulu-based CB Bancshares Inc., which also operates International Savings & Loan and has a total of 22 branches on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.

In other news . . .

TOKYO -- Japan's main stock index rose today for only the second time in the last nine sessions, lifted by bargain-hunters eyeing a recovery in corporate profits. The dollar fell slightly against the yen. The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average gained 237.30 points, or 1.46 percent, to 16,245.44. On Friday, the index fell to 16,008.14, its lowest close in almost a year.