Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words firm+index. 2 news.

UNITED States Internet sales rose at the slowest pace on record as discounts cut revenue in the final days of the holiday shopping season. Online spending from November 1 through December 21 increased 19 percent from the same period a year earlier to $26.3 billion, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc said yesterday. Sales trailed last year's 26 percent growth and the research firm's forecast for a 20 percent gain during this year's holidays, Bloomberg News said. Consumers have limited spending growth this year as gasoline and food prices rise and mortgage defaults increase. The Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment for December dropped to 75.5, the lowest since October 2005. "This year will be the year of the discount," Fred Crawford, managing director at AlixPartners LLP, told Bloomberg Television on December 21. AlixPartners is a consulting firm based in Southfield, Michigan. ComScore hasn't recorded growth of less than 20 percent since

ASIAN stocks rose for a second day, led by electronics makers, after consumer spending increased more than forecast in the United States, the region's biggest export market. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, maker of iPods for Apple Inc, and Samsung Electronics Co climbed to the highest in more than a week. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced the most in three weeks last Friday after the report on November spending eased concern about recession in the world's biggest economy. "US shares showed firm gains, and we're seeing the influence in shares today (yesterday)," said Kim Jae Dong, who oversees the equivalent of US$8.6 billion at Korea Investment Trust Management Co in Seoul. BHP Billiton Ltd led an increase among miners after metals prices climbed, and a UK regulator set a deadline for a formal takeover bid for Rio Tinto Group. The MSCI Asia Pacific, excluding Japan Index, rose two percent to 524.1 as of 3:38pm in Hong Kong, with all 10 industry groups climbing.