S&P 500 companies make record buybacks in '07 -S&P

NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX companies bought back a record $589 billion worth of stock in 2007, marking a 36.4 percent increase from a year ago, S&P reported on Monday.

Of the total, 10 companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and IBM Corp(IBM.N), accounted for $142 billion worth.

Buyback activity is expected to remain at high levels in 2008, but is not likely to set another record "as corporations and investors continue to be concerned about the economic and liquidity issues," wrote Howard Silverblatt, S&P's senior index analyst.

Financial services companies slowed their buybacks, with the sector accounting for 13.4 percent of aggregate repurchases in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with 22.3 percent in the year-ago period.

The information technology sector was the biggest buyer in the fourth quarter, accounting for 22.5 percent of all buybacks, up from 20.6 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Jennifer Coogan, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama,)