SOUTH KOREA

Oil hovered around its highest levels in more than two years on Friday, supported by cold weather across the globe, appetite for risk assets and no signals from OPEC it was prepared to arrest the rally.

Oil rallied to its highest price in more than two years on Friday, supported by unusually frigid weather that has fueled demand, depleted supplies and stoked inflationary worries from South Korea to India.

Amid large-scale South Korean military drills near the border with North Korea, a top official from the North warned against intrusion into its territory, threatening war and citing possible use of nuclear weapons, while an unofficial U.S. ambassador said the situation was like a tinderbox.

South Korea's Samsung Group targets 50 trillion won ($43.3 billion) in sales in 2020 from new growth businesses, the chief executive of its core unit Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, called on the country's military to strike with strong 'counter-attacks' on the North. Lee visited the front-line army units in Yanggu of Gangwon Province on Thursday. Despite domestic opposition, Seoul's hard-line government is holding the one of its largest-ever military at Pocheon, 20km south of the North Korean border. The country so far conducted 47 drills in the past year.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat opening on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.04 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.01 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.01 percent at 0917 GMT (4:17 a.m. ET).

FIFPro, the International Players' union, has supported calls to play the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar during winter instead of summer.

Sony Corp plans to buy back a Nagasaki semiconductor plant from Toshiba Corp for about 50 billion yen ($597.2 million) to double output capacity for image sensors used in smartphones and other devices, the Nikkei business daily reported.

US diplomats in Washington once dubbed North's Korea's military drills as 'fish-killing' activities. Yet the South, backed by the Obama administration, has been continuously holding live-fire drills in the disputed zone of the Korean Peninsula. With a continual military activity, the coming months could only witness a deteriorating situation in the peninsula, unless both sides are pressured to engage in a dialogue.

Stocks edged higher on Wednesday as financial stocks helped extend four days of gains that drove the S&P 500 to levels not seen since before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago.

S&P 500 stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday as traders looked to extend four days of gains that drove the S&P 500 to levels reached just before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago.

Stock index futures were flat on Wednesday after fours days of gains drove the S&P 500 to new highs, leaving the index near levels reached just before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago.

Stock futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 all fell 0.1 percent, pointing to a slightly weaker start for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Stocks rose moderately, boosted by some M&A activity and an easing of hostilities in Korea, with the Dow Jones index reaching a 28-month high and the Nasdaq at a three-year high, albeit in light pre-holiday trading.

Is North Korea finally, though momentarily perhaps, willing to throw away the mantle of a cranky child angrily throwing toys from the pram?

New York-traded shares of China Eastern Airlines plunged 4.42 percent and those of China Southern Airlines plunged 2.47 percent in morning trading on tensions between North and South Korea.

The world's largest exchange traded gold fund - the New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore-listed SPDR Gold Trust - added 15 tonnes to its holdings on Friday, the largest one-day addition since the height of the Greek deficit crisis in May.

Sony Corp's LCD TV sales will likely fall slightly short of a targeted 60 percent rise in unit terms this financial year, a senior executive said, with new 3D TVs unable to resuscitate soft sales in mature markets.

South Korea announced on Sunday it will start charging a levy on banks' foreign exchange borrowings, a measure aimed at limiting the chances of capital exiting the economy at a time when military tensions with the North are escalating.

The South Korean military has begun live-firing exercises on Yeonpyeong Island, the country's defense ministry announced on Monday. Local residents were ordered to move into air raid bunkers ahead of the drills. The move comes at the time of heightened tensions in the region and constant threats of retaliation from the North.

Stock index futures pointed to modest gains for Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrials and Nasdaq indexes all up by around 0.1 percent by 0933 GMT (4:33 a.m. EDT).