Global sales rose 6.4 percent in the half from the period last year.

For the first six months of 1997, ad pages rose 5 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier, to 109,575.

For the first six months of 1995, they rose 18.3 percent from the corresponding period a year ago.

It rose 3.3 percent from the comparable period last year.

Expenses for the quarter, including fuel, rose 2.4 percent from the period a year earlier, which was less than expected.

Honda's September sales rose 9.7 percent from the period a year earlier.

For the first eight months of 1993, pages rose 1.2 percent, to 102,475, from the corresponding period a year ago.

The total cost rose sharply from the 1987 period, when companies spent $91.3 billion to buy each other.

Sales of light vehicles rose 1 percent from the period a year ago based on a daily selling rate.

Sales rose 29 percent to 588.3 million marks, from the corresponding period last year.