U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.02 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.22 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.17 percent at 4.40 a.m. EST.

After the bell on Thursday, Intel Corp , a Dow component and the world's largest chipmaker, posted fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street forecasts, and the company gave a bullish margin outlook on higher prices and firm demand for server chips.

Intel shares traded in Frankfurt were up 2.5 percent.

Investor focus was firmly on quarterly results from Wall Street major JPMorgan Chase & Co .

On the M&A front, Shiseido Co Ltd <4911.T>, Japan's largest cosmetics company, has agreed to buy U.S.-based Bare Escentuals for $1.7 billion, as it looks to speed up its expansion and break into a new part of the North American market.

CF Industries Holdings Inc withdrew its year-long hostile bid to buy rival fertilizer maker Terra Industries Inc on Thursday, bringing a three-way battle for control of the North American fertilizer business closer to a conclusion.

Sales of video game equipment and software in the United States rose 4 percent in December to a record $5.5 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, as the industry closed out a difficult year on an upbeat note.

Oil fell to just above $79 a barrel on Friday and was set for its first weekly drop in more than a month on disappointing economic data and expectations for reduced heating demand in the United States.

The International Energy Agency said on Friday global oil demand this year will reach the highest level since 2007, with rising consumption led by faster growth in emerging economies in Asia.

The euro fell against the dollar on Friday, pressured as concerns about the struggling Greek economy highlighted weakness in the euro zone and bolstered expectations interest rates in the region will stay low for months.

The world economy is still fragile but the recovery from the financial crisis has been significantly faster than the International Monetary Fund expected, the head of the institution said on Thursday.

European stocks rose in morning trade as Intel results boosted shares of European chipmakers such as STMicro and Infineon , while Japan's Nikkei average hit a 15-month high, also boosted by tech shares.

Technology shares drove Wall Street higher on Thursday on bets ahead of Intel's quarterly results that business spending will bolster profits in the sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> added 29.78 points, or 0.28 percent, to 10,710.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 2.78 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,148.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 8.84 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,316.74.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

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