Mark Androvich
18:57 (BST)
03/05/2008
Stock Report: Apr 28-May 2
US stocks improved for the third consecutive week, following lower than expected unemployment and a strengthening dollar.
The S&P 500 reached a four-month high - up 1.2 per cent to 1,413.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3 per cent to close at 13,058.20. NASDAQ was down .15 per cent to 2,476.99
One of the most anticipated games of the year - Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto IV - was released this week. Although Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick said the response vindicated waiting until the game's launch, EA said their USD 2 billion offer took stock fluctuations into account.
Take-Two stock closed the week at USD 26.20 - not much more than EA's original offer of USD 26 per share or its revised offer of USD 25.74 per share.
Infogrames, the majority shareholder of Atari Inc., purchased the remaining shares of the company for USD 11 million - thus re-acquiring what had once been its US subsidiary that was spun off as a separate entity. Infogrames stock was up 9.75 per cent from last week. Atari stock closed the week at USD 1.65.
With Yahoo's deadline to accept Microsoft's takeover bid having expired, The New York Times reported that Microsoft increased its offer to an unspecified amount several dollars over its original USD 31 per share offer.
Selected stock movements in the past week (at time of writing):
| SCi | 47 - 55.25 | +17.55% |
|---|---|---|
| Infogrames | 11.49 - 12.61 | +9.75% |
| Midway | 2.26 - 2.42 | +7.08% |
| Sega | 12.09 - 12.70 | +5.05% |
| Namco Bandai | 13.60 - 14.23 | +4.63% |
| Sony | 45.63 - 47.59 | +4.30% |
| EA | 51.53 - 53.17 | +3.18% |
| Ubisoft | 63.03 - 64.38 | +2.14% |
| THQ | 21.15 - 21.29 | +0.66% |
| Take-Two | 26.20 - 26.20 | 0.00% |
| Activision | 27.34 - 27.16 | -0.66% |
| Nintendo | 577 - 566.22 | -1.87% |
| Microsoft | 29.83 - 29.24 | -1.98% |
| Konami | 37.62 - 36.30 | -3.51% |
Please note that stock prices on differing markets may be influenced by separate local events, and shouldn't necessarily be compared like for like. This list is not a ranking of total market valuation; selected stocks only. Prices given in local exchange currency, except Tokyo stocks, which are converted into USD.
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