Fare Hikes Withdrawn

Continental Airlines Inc., UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. and America West Holdings Corp. rescinded increases on domestic leisure and business fares because other major airlines didn’t match them. Continental began the increases Friday, boosting leisure fares 3% and business fares 1%, to try to make up for rising fuel costs, and was quickly matched by the other three airlines.

The carriers had rolled back their fares by Sunday, said Tom Parsons, an analyst who tracks airline ticket prices. The carriers rescinded the hikes because Northwest Airlines Corp., US Airways Group Inc., AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Trans World Airlines Inc. hadn’t matched them, Parsons said. Airlines typically raise fares on a Friday and watch during the weekend to see if competitors follow. If none do, the increase is usually withdrawn.

*

Gas Prices Up: Gasoline prices jumped 14 cents per gallon nationwide over the last three weeks because of seasonal demand, OPEC cuts in crude oil production and two major refinery fires in California, according to the most recent Lundberg Survey of 10,000 gas stations. Pump prices were highest in California, where the average price jumped 43.11 cents to an average price for regular unleaded of $1.64. Gas was most expensive in San Francisco, where regular unleaded cost $1.71 per gallon. The lowest average was $1.53 in the Los Angeles Basin.

*

Gemstar to Split: Pasadena-based Gemstar International Group Ltd., marketer of VCR Plus recording technology, said it will split its shares 2 for 1. Its stock, which rose $2.63 to close at $108.13 on Nasdaq on Friday, has risen 235% in the last year.

*

Machine Tool Orders Drop: U.S. orders for machine tools declined in February for the fifth straight month, an industry survey said. Orders from U.S. companies for domestic and foreign-produced machine tools fell 51% to an estimated $341 million from $696 million last year, according to a joint report from the Assn. for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. The groups’ report showed that machine tool orders are down 48% to an estimated $688.6 million so far this year.