8:30AM Oracle Corp. boosted its bid offer for Indian i-flex to $1.3 B.
Oracle Corp. (ORCL: chart), the world''s biggest maker of database software, improved its offer for Indian banking software provider i-flex Solutions Ltd. to $1.3 billion. The new offer means Oracle is bidding for nearly 28.4 million i-flex shares worth 59.5 billion rupees, or $1.3 billion. Oracle said it wanted to take its stake in i-flex to 90% and raised the price it is willing to pay to 2,100 rupees per share, up 42% from 1,475 rupees previously offered. The revised offer represented a 20% premium to i-flex''s closing price on Thursday. It values i-flex at 49 times forecast earnings, versus a sector average of Indian application software makers of 24. Oracle already owns 55% of i-flex. In September it offered to pay up to $531 million to boost its stake to 75%.

The news sent i-flex shares to record highs. Before retreating to 16.5%, they hit a record of 2,055 rupees, up 17.4%.


7:30AM Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday with Japan, HK down.
Asian markets mostly declined on Friday. The Nikkei Average of 225 companies ended down 55 points, or 0.3% , to 16,417.80. October core machinery index advanced 2.8% from the previous month, but failed to match expected 5.7% growth.

NTT DoCoMo declined 1.7% after the cellular provider posted its first-ever net decline in mobile subscribers in November. Sanyo Electric Co. shed 3.1% after NTT DoCoMo said Thursday it would withdraw 1.3 million cellphone batteries made by a Sanyo unit on safety concerns. Japan Tobacco gained 4%, continuing its winning streak from the previous session.

Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong closed 0.6% lower to 18,739.99. The China Enterprises Index of stocks listed in Hong Kong, declined 0.9%. Power tool and vacuum-cleaner maker Techtronic Industries Co advanced 0.8% as the group announced it had bought Whirlpool Corp.''s. China Mobile shed 1.8%, continuing its 2.6% slip in the previous session due to reports of a large share sale by an institutional holder.

Share indexes in Malaysia dipped 0.4% while Taiwan Weighted Price Index slipped 0.7%. Kospi in South Korea also declined 1.4% and Australia S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.7% as well as Singapore Strait Times Index down 0.6%. New Zealand NZX-50 bucked the trend and gained 0.9%.


6:30AM European markets were lower Friday as markets await US job report.
European markets were trading lower Friday. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.2% to 6,118.3, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.3% to 6,394.01, and the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.5% to 5,353.59.

Advancers

Banks bucked the overall downtrend and advanced. Barclays added 1.1% in the light of recent bid talks, while KBC in Belgium gained 1.9% after sturdy results this week. Capitalia in Italy advanced 2.2%.

Deutsche Börse gained 1% after Citigroup hiked its price target on the German stock exchange operator.

Decliners

Miners listed in London influenced the negative trend on the markets the most after Merrill Lynch reduced its rating on the sector and lowered some indivdual stocks. Xstrata, which was lowered to neutral, shed 3.1%, while Antofagasta and Kazakhmys, both reduced to sell shed 2.8% and 3.1% respectively.

German truckmaker Man, declined 1% on worries it may sweeten its unfriendly bid for Swedish rival Scania after it said on Thursday it was prolonging its offer period. Scania was off 0.3%.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for January delivery advanced 31 cents to $62.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME, up from $62.49 a barrel on Thursday. January Brent crude at London ICE Futures exchange gained 33 cents to $62.90 a barrel.

Currencies

In early European trading, the euro traded at $1.3284, up from $1.3280 in New York late Thursday. In England, the Bank of England abstained from hiking its rate and held it firm at 5 percent Thursday. The British pound traded on Friday at $1.9674, up from $1.9620 on Thursday. The dollar gained slightly to 115.32 Japanese yen from 115.29 yen.