(Recasts with stock futures, updates snapshot table and adds
company news)
LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - European shares are set to open steady on Friday
after the previous session's sharp falls, but tech stocks may be in focus after
Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) posted a surprise rise in new software sales and said
growth could accelerate this quarter.
By 0744 GMT, futures for DJ Euro Stoxx STXEc2 and Germany's DAX FDXc2
were down 0.1 percent but France's CAC-40 futures FCEc2 were up 0.1 percent.
Earlier, financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open 3
to 6 points higher.
The Swiss franc rose on Friday as investors unwound long dollar and euro
positions in the approach to the year-end, helped by rumours of a coup in
Pakistan that were quickly denied, and by stop-loss orders which propelled it
up.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell as the dollar rebound spurred a safe-haven
trade, cutting demand for riskier assets, but Research In Motion (RIM.TO)
(RIMM.O) shares rose sharply in extended trade on Nasdaq after the BlackBerry
maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
Japan's Nikkei average .N225 dipped 0.2 percent on Friday.
The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares lost 1.3 percent
on Thursday, snapping a five-day winning streak.
Investors will look to Germany's Ifo business survey for December due at
0900 GMT for further clues on the outlook of Europe's biggest economy.
Britain's consumer confidence fell in December for a consecutive month, the
first time since July 2008 that confidence fell two months in a row, a survey by
GfK NOP for the European Commission showed. [ID:nLDE5BG2F7]
Also in the UK, the Bank of England said the country's financial sector
looks in much better shape than it did six months ago as it urged banks to take
advantage of current funding conditions to shore up their balance sheets.
[ID:nLAG003860]
Investors will also be wary of "triple witching" in the market on Friday,
when the contracts for stock index futures, index options and equity options all
expire at the same time.
* Wall St sinks as dollar jumps, FedEx loses altitude [ID:nN17192061]
* Nikkei slips 0.2 pct; resource shares, banks fall [ID:nTOE5BH03X]
* GLOBAL MARKETS-Euro rebounds; Asian shrs slip on earnings [ID:nTOE5BH00Q]
* Oil above $73 on economic data, colder U.S. weather [ID:nSGE5BH01F]
* Swissie off highs but dollar slips in bumpy market [ID:nTOE5BH048]
* Gold firms as dollar weakens vs euro [ID:nTOE5BH002]
COMPANY NEWS:
NOKIA (NOK1V.HE), ERICSSON (ERICb.ST), STMICROELECTRONICS (STM.PA)
Nokia said it would partner with ST-Ericsson on China 3G standard and
ST-Ericsson would be key supplier of TD-SCDMA chipset platforms. [ID:nHEL009427]
DEUTSCHE BANK (DBKGn.DE)
The bank will spread the cost of Britain's controversial tax on bankers'
bonuses among its staff around the world, Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said
in a Financial Times report. [ID:nLDE5BG2I3]
EADS (EAD.PA)
Airbus parent EADS won a firm victory on Thursday when regulators cleared
the company and current and former bosses of insider trading and market abuse,
ending a three-year probe that has cast a pall over the group. [ID:nLDE5BG2F2]
Separately, EADS could lose a 2.9 billion euros ($4.18 billion) contract to
provide MALE drones to the French and Germany armies, French business newspaper
La Tribune said. [ID:nLDE5BH03Q]
ILIAD (ILD.PA)
The French communications company won France's fourth mobile phone licence,
paving the way for more competition and lower prices for consumers in Europe's
third-largest telecom market. [ID:nLDE5BH0A1]
The decisions cap a decade-long saga in which the three existing operators
-- Bouygues Telecom (BOUY.PA), France Telecom (FTE.PA) and Vivendi's (VIV.PA)
SFR -- lobbied hard against a new entrant.
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM (DTEGn.DE)
The proposed merger of the British operations of telecoms carriers Orange
and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile might curb competition in ways that hurt
consumers, British regulator Ofcom said on Thursday. [ID:nLDE5BG267]
AUTOMAKERS
New commercial vehicle registrations in Europe fell 15.9 percent in November
year-on-year, industry association ACEA said.
For the first 11 months of 2009, new commercial vehicle registrations were
down 33.9 percent, ACEA said.
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP (LLOY.L)
The disposals Lloyds has agreed to as compensation for taking state aid were
a "very fair deal" but it has no plans to sell the assets off soon, the banking
group's chief executive told the Financial Times. [ID:nLDE5BH008]
CREDIT SUISSE (CSGN.VX)
Nationalised Dutch bank Fortis Bank Nederland [FORTH.UL] said it is in
exclusive talks with Credit Suisse on the sale of its Prime Fund Solutions fund
services business. [ID:nLDE5BH03T]
FIAT (FIA.MI)
Chrysler, in which Fiat has 20 percent, will build a small Fiat-developed
engine starting in late 2010 as it rushes to bring out a new generation of
fuel-efficient small cars crucial for its turnaround. [ID:nN17175817]
CONTINENTAL (CONG.DE)
Supervisory board member Rolf Koerfer, backed by major shareholder
Schaeffler, has tried to win support for limiting the number of new shares to be
issued in Continental's planned capital hike to about 30 million, German paper
Handelsblatt reported.
That could make it harder to raise the 1 billion euros it targets.
Continental is supposed to sell a maximum 54 million shares.
BBVA (BBVA.MC)
BBVA's Mexican bank expects double-digit credit growth next year, with more
mortgage lending and small business loans as the economy recovers from a deep
recession. [ID:nN17181024]
BARCLAYS (BARC.L)
The British bank is to begin lending money provided by the European
Investment Bank to small businesses, the Daily Telegraph said. It will lend the
money to companies with fewer than 250 employees at 2.5 percent less than its
usual rate, given in the form of cash up-front, the newspaper said.
RYANAIR (RYA.I)
Ryanair said talks with Boeing (BA.N) on aircraft orders cannot be
successfully concluded prior to year-end, but added the breakdown of talks will
not effect its plans to take delivery of 112 B737-800 in the next three years.
[ID:nWLA1087]
TOTAL (TOTF.PA)
The French oil giant could close its Dunkirk oil refinery, one of the
group's six plants in France, after falling global demand for oil products
triggered losses of about 100 million euros per month in French refineries, a
Total spokesman told Reuters, confirming a report from Les Echos newspaper.
MEDIASET (MS.MI)
The Italian government on Thursday approved a law to gradually cut the
amount of advertising on pay TV by 2012, the industry ministry said, adding that
the measure will affect all pay-TV channels. [ID:nLDE5BG2GY]
(Reporting by Dominic Lau)
