Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word rose. 39 news.

AP - Wall Street advanced sharply Monday, boosted by news that Merrill Lynch & Co. will receive an investment of up to $6.2 billion from two investment groups. The Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 100 points.

CAP Gemini SA rose the most in almost five years in Paris trading after the Hindustan Times reported that India's Wipro Ltd may offer to buy Europe's largest computer-services company for as much as US$7 billion. Cap Gemini isn't in talks with Wipro about a takeover, the Paris-based company said after the market closed. The shares climbed 4.29 euros, or 11 percent, to 45 euros, the biggest advance since February 2003. Wipro gained the most since May 2004 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Cap Gemini, led by Chief Executive Officer Paul Hermelin, in February bought Houston-based Kanbay International Inc for US$1.25 billion, doubling its Indian work force. Bangalore-based Wipro, India's third-largest software services exporter, may bid for Cap Gemini by the end of January, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported on Sunday, citing "investment banking sources." "There's arguably a super merger to do between a large Indian and a large European player," Jonathan

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

INDIA, the world's second-biggest wheat consumer, scrapped a tender to buy 350,000 tons of the grain after balking at higher prices amid expectations domestic production will be the highest in seven years. "Prices are too high," India's Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News in New Delhi yesterday. "We will take a decision on importing more wheat after the next wheat crop." The country should meet an output target of 75.5 million tons, the most since 2000, the farm ministry said on December 18. India, importing wheat for a second year to boost state reserves, may wait a few months before issuing a new tender as it expects prices to fall. Wheat rose above US$10 a bushel in Chicago for the first time on December 17 after concerns dry weather in Argentina, the world's fourth-biggest exporter, will shrink global supplies. "We may not import wheat as of now," Pillai said. Government-owned State Trading Corp on

SOUTH Korea's consumer confidence declined from a five-year high, signaling spending may slow and crimp growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The sentiment index fell to 106 in the fourth quarter, the lowest in three quarters, from 112, the Bank of Korea said yesterday in a report in Seoul. A reading higher than 100 indicates optimists outnumber pessimists. The benchmark Kospi index of stocks has fallen eight percent from a November 1 record of 2,085.45 on concern US subprime-related losses would slow the global economy. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc this month cut its 2008 growth forecast for South Korea to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent, Bloomberg News reported. "Consumers were probably very worried by the US subprime crisis," said Lee Sung Kwon, an economist at Good Morning Shinhan Securities Co in Seoul. The yield on a five-year government bond rose two basis points to 5.87 percent in Seoul and the won gained 0.1 percent to 939.65 versus the dollar. The

THE mortgage delinquency ratio in Hong Kong dropped to 0.11 percent and the rescheduled loan ratio fell to 0.2 percent, both record lows, driving the combined ratio lower to 0.32 percent, according to a report yesterday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also found in the monthly survey that new mortgage loans drawn down rose 17.5 percent to HK$18.7 billion (US$2.4 billion).

THE yuan climbed to the strongest since a link to the US dollar was scrapped two years ago after the central bank said exchange-rate flexibility will rise, spurring speculation it plans to widen the daily trading band. The yuan rose 0.3 percent to 7.3475 per US dollar at 5:30pm in Shanghai, bringing gains this month to 0.7 percent. The central bank set the reference rate at 7.3315 yesterday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The rate touched 7.3405 yesterday, the highest since the peg ended in July 2005. The People's Bank of China said in a statement last Friday that it will let the market play a bigger role in setting the exchange rate.

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.

SHARES in Shanghai closed higher yesterday for the fourth consecutive session as transactions grew, boosted by investors building up positions in this year's last week of trading in hopes of a bullish 2008. Shares of PetroChina and brokers led the gain in the key index. The Shanghai Composite Index, tracking yuan-denominated A shares and hard currency B chips, jumped 132.48 points, or 2.6 percent, to end at 5,234.26. It was the index's longest winning streak in nearly two months during which the market underwent correction on concerns of overvaluation. The A share barometer rose 2.6 percent while the B share gauge gained 1.32 percent. Transactions soared nearly 40 percent yesterday from last Friday to more than 140 billion yuan (US$19 billion). Gainers outpaced decliners by 641 to 116 with another 116 shares unchanged. "The market is still bullish as the fundamentals haven't changed. The listed firms' growth might be slowing a little but the momentum is still there,"

CHINA Oilfield Services Ltd, a unit of the nation's third-largest oil producer, won a contract to supply four drilling rigs to Libya for about US$100 million. China Oilfield will deliver two 7,000-meter and two 5,000-meter drilling rigs over three years starting in March, the Beijing-based company said on its Website today. The oil and gas services company, whose main customer is CNOOC Ltd, aims to expand both at home and abroad to benefit from increased exploration spending after oil prices surged. "This is the company's first overseas onshore drilling contract," Yuan Guangyu, vice chairman of China Oilfield, said. "We see Libya as the starting point to expand our broad range of oil field services to overseas markets such as the Middle East and north Africa." China Oilfield shares rose 6.7 percent to HK$17.92 at the Hong Kong stock exchange's close at 12:30pm.

FISHER & Paykel Healthcare Corp, the New Zealand-based maker of breathing masks to treat sleep disorders, rose to a three-month high in Wellington after the takeover of a rival stoked speculation about more mergers. The Auckland-based company jumped three percent to its highest since September 20, after Respironics Inc, the world's largest manufacturer of the breathing devices, was acquired by Royal Phillips Electronics NV for US$5.2 billion in cash, Bloomberg News reported. Fisher & Paykel has about seven percent of the market for products to treat obstructive sleep apnea, a condition thought to affect as many as 12 million Americans. It is among a handful of companies with US Food & Drug Administration approval to sell OSA devices, along with Respironics and ResMed Inc. "They definitely could be a takeover target because the OSA market is very attractive with its high growth," said Stephen Walker, who manages the equivalent of US$107 million at Walker Capital

CHINA Unicom Ltd, the smaller of the nation's two mobile-phone operators, rose to the highest in Hong Kong trading in almost a month after a report said the country's top economic planning agency supported a breakup of Unicom. The shares gained 3.6 percent to HK$17.36, their best performance since November 30, at the end of trading yesterday. The National Development and Reform Commission said allowing China's fixed-line carriers to acquire Unicom's mobile networks is the most efficient plan for the industry, the Shanghai Securities News said yesterday, citing a research report by the country's top planning body. China, the world's largest mobile-phone market by users, is expected to reorganize the industry by breaking up Unicom into two operators to be run by the fixed-line companies. China Mobile Ltd controls two-thirds of the nation's wireless subscribers and is adding customers at four times the pace of Unicom. "The government is concerned China Mobile is much too

FT.com - Wall Street stocks rose on Monday after a spate of deal-making and a capital injection at Merrill Lynch helped spur a pre-Christmas rally on Wall Street.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks finished higher in Monday's shortened trading session, aided by a flurry of M&A deals that included a $2.7 billion sale by Alcoa Inc. of its packaging and consumer businesses. In preliminary closing figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 106 points to 13,555, the S&P 500 Index gained 12 points to end at 1,497 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 22 points to 2,713, with shares of Apple Inc. approaching the $200-a share mark. Apple's stock ended up 2.8% at $198.80.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Gold futures rose for a second straight trading day on Monday as the dollar fell against a basket of other major currencies. Copper futures rose for a fourth day. Gold futures for February delivery rose $1.1, or 0.1%, to $816.5 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Copper futures for March delivery rallied 5.6 cents, or 1.8%, to $3.1535 a pound. Copper has risen more than 10% since Dec. 19. The dollar index, which tracks the value of the dollar against a basket of other major currencies, fell for a second day, down 0.2% at 77.57. A weaker dollar tends to increase the appeal of dollar-denominated gold as an investment haven.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The results of the Treasury Department's 3-month and 6-month bill auction show demand remains robust for risk-free short-term instruments ahead of the end of the year. The Treasury awarded $20 billion in 3-month bills at 3.28%, compared with last week's 3.0%. The bid-to-cover -- which measures bids received to bids tendered -- was 2.32, unchanged from last week. The indirect bid, a carefully watched category that includes foreign buyers, was 26.4%, up from 16.0% the week before. The Treasury also awarded $19 billion in 6-month bills at 3.49% compared with 3.28% last week. The indirect bid rose to 37.1% from 30.5% and the bid-to-cover rose to 2.61 from 2.34 last week. The auction "was well-bid, helped by the $2 billion cut in offering size to $39 billion, though light trading conditions limited demand," wrote analysts at Action Economics.

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to their highest levels in more than a month.

AP - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to their highest levels in more than a month.

FT.com - Wall Street stocks rose on Monday after Merrill Lynch announced a capital injection of up to $6.2bn, spurring a rally in financial stocks at the start of an abbreviated Christmas-Eve trading session.

Commodities prices closed mostly higher Monday following an uneventful, shortened trading session ahead of Christmas. Oil, gold and industrial metals rose slightly.