South Korea's top five conglomerates will announce `big deals', or a swapping of business lines, on Thursday, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said on Wednesday. The FKI, a powerful lobby group representing the nation's biggest conglomerates or chaebol, said the groups had originally planned to announce the deals on Wednesday. The big deals would involve seven industry sectors --semiconductors, oil refining, petrochemical, power generation, railcar, aircraft and ship engines.

China mutual funds assets fall: Four of China's five major mutual funds showed net asset value had slipped below par value by the end of August, the Shanghai Securities News said on Wednesday. The slide below par, the first such instance for any of the new funds, was mainly due to a sharp downturn on China's domestic currency A share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen last month, the newspaper said. A shares on the two exchanges dropped by an average of 12 per cent in August fromthe end of July, and that reduced net asset values at the funds by an average of 3.0 percent, it said. The net asset value of the Shanghai-listed Xinghua Fund was the lowest of the five at 0.97750 per unit compared with 1.0327 at the end of July, the newspaper said.

Korea to boost purchase of durable goods: South Korea said on Wednesday it would draw up measures to promote the purchase of durable goods and houses to give a boost to the sagging economy. The ministry of finance and economy said in a statement it would lower interest rates further through "flexible" monetary and fiscal policies.

Tellabs, Ciena optimistic on acquisition: Tellabs Inc and Ciena Corp said that they hope to hold meetings in mid-November to allow shareholders to vote on Tellabs' revised $4.7 billion acquisition proposal for Ciena. The companies said that they had planned to hold the meetings on September 9, but will reschedule them to allow shareholders to consider Tellabs new offer. "The companies currentlyanticipate that these meetings can be held in mid-November," the companies said. Tellabs on Friday said it had renegotiated the terms of the proposed acquisition and cut the deal's value by more than a third to about $4.7 billion. The companies originally agreed to an exchange of stockworth about $7.1 billion. The revised terms were expected after both companies stock prices tumbled following Ciena's warnings that its third quarter earnings would be lower than expected.

Canal Plus up on Italian football deal: Canal Plus shares were up sharply after the group obtained exclusive rights to broadcast the games of certain top Italian soccer teams, dealers said. The stock was up 6.27 per cent at 1,306 French francs($222.6) at 0855 GMT. Canal Plus's Italian subsidiary Telepiu said on Monday it had won exclusive broadcast rights to the games of four Italian teams, including Turin's Juventus, through 2005. "Obtaining these rights was a pre-condition for the commercial success of the Italiansubsidiary''.

PolyGram film unit sale faces delay: The auction of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (PFE) could be delayed as potential buyers will not be ready to submit bids by the September 11 deadline set by Goldman Sachs, according to media reports on Wednesday. The reports said EMI did not have a boardmeeting before the deadline and wanted time to formalise its position. French pay-television group Canal Plus may not be in a position to meet the deadline either, the reports said. Goldman is selling PFE on behalf of Seagram which bought a majority stake in PolyGram NV from Philips. The report said other contenders for PFE included Carlton Communications and MGM of the United States. Last week Canal Plus confirmed its interest in PFE but indicated it would bid with a partner if admitted to the shortlist.