As BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, SocGen launched in September a plan for savings and reducing the size of its balance sheet to enhance its financial strength and reduce its financing needs in dollars, after seeing its market capitalization s' collapse during the summer.

Despite the Europe Agreement in an attempt to stem the crisis, the cost of financing the huge debt of Italy rose again Friday at a bond test, the markets continue to doubt the credibility of the Berlusconi government.

The Nikkei gained 2.04% or 178.07 points to 8,926.54 and the Topix has taken 2.18% (16.31 points) to 762.79.

The Bank of Japan is also stepped in to buy more assets in the markets, which helped improve investor sentiment.

"There are many unknowns about Europe, and it is now more likely that something disappointing for investors to happen, instead of a positive surprise," said Tomomi Yamashita, fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management .

About values, Olympus has seen a strong rebound after plummeting last few days, taking 23.29% to 1,355 yen.

Olympus gave a press conference defending its mergers and acquisitions Thursday following the resignation of its chairman.

Several major automakers have values ​​slightly outperformed the market: Toyota made 2.22% to 2,584 yen and Honda has awarded 2.75% to 2,393 yen.

In electronics, Sony jumped 5.43% to 1,650 yen, while qu'Elpida fell by 0.6% to 496 yen.

NEC (2.31% at 177 yen) and Softbank (0.91% to 2450 yen) released their quarterly earnings at closing.

The transaction is subject to approval by the Kenyan authorities, the oil group said in a statement.

The field of operation, located off the Lamu archipelago, covers an area of ​​more than 30,500 square kilometers in water depths between 100 and 3,000 meters.

Total has recently engaged in the exploration and development of reserves of Lake Albert, Uganda, and was selected to develop exploration activities in Tanzania.

Oil was first discovered off the coast of Guyana, as Total and Shell. The deposit was located in deep water, in more than 2,000 meters deep, about 150 kilometers northeast of Cayenne.

"We are pleased with the preliminary results of the first ever undertaken exploratory drilling off the coast of French Guiana," said an official with the exploration department of Shell, David Lawrence. The "major" Anglo-Dutch holds the largest share (45%) of the project. She said it is too early at this stage to assess the reserves, but the initial results are "encouraging."

A spokesman for Total, which owns 25% of shares, confirms that this is the first discovery of oil off the French department. Guyana, region and overseas department of French, whose per capita income is one of the lowest in the country, has never produced oil.

A basement as rich as the Gulf of Guinea?

The finding revives hopes for a new Eldorado in the department overseas, prompted by the recent major discoveries in the north-east coast of neighboring Brazil.

Geologists assume that the basement of the northeast coast of South America is similar to the rich in hydrocarbons, Gulf of Guinea in Africa. The two were indeed connected before the continents formed and drift away from each other.

The exploration permit is operated by Guyanese British company Tullow Oil, which owns 27.5% of the project.It allows drilling to 6,000 meters (2,000 feet of water and 4,000 m in the oceanic basement). The installation in March of this platform had attracted the wrath of environmentalists, who worry about such a possibility of operation after the disaster of the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to Total, the drilling has already reached 5711 meters below sea level "After a campaign of intermediate measures, the drilling of the GM-ES-1 will resume soon to reach its planned final depth. The production potential and scope resources will then be identified, "said Total. "The joint venture will continue its drilling, evaluate results and decide next steps," said Shell.

In Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.28% or 9.07 points to 3265.83 points.

Other major European markets, London has gained 0.45% and Frankfurt lost 0.94%. Of the European indices, the Eurofirst 300 took 0.65%.

The defense was sought, Deutsche Telekom 2.19% returning after a decline of 7.6% after reports that the U.S. would oppose the sale of its subsidiary T-Mobile to AT & T.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche took 1.5% and the French specialist Danone dairy products 1.3%.

On the Nymex, the contract on October U.S. crude (WTI) finished with a gain of $ 1.90, or 2.23% to 87.27 dollars a barrel.Meanwhile, Brent advanced to 0.44%, or $ 0.49, to 111.85 dollars.

Consumer spending of U.S. households rose 0.8% in July while economists surveyed expected an average spending growth of 0.5%.

Black gold has also benefited from the good performance of major stock exchanges worldwide, because of Hurricane Irene has done less damage than expected in the United States and the decline of the dollar.

The rating agency Moody's has lowered a notch to Wednesday's Aa3 rating for long-term debt of Japan, because of the massive debt the country, aggravated by the earthquake of March 11, against a background of instability policy that blocks long-term strategies. This sanction will force the contenders for prime minister to introduce measures of fiscal discipline, analysts welcome.

"The ratings downgrade is driven by large fiscal deficits and the accumulation of Japan's public debt since the global recession of 2009," Moody's said in a statement.And the agency added that "several factors make it difficult for Japan to reduce the proportion of debt vis-à-vis the GDP, thus lowering his score." However, Moody's has no plans for more time to downgrade the archipelago, saying that he has the chance to enjoy the Japanese investors' preference for domestic bonds.

Banks also degraded

The rating agency Moody's said Wednesday it lowered a notch in the middle note of the long-term debt of major Japanese banks, after having degraded earlier note of Japan indebted.In particular, Moody's revised its negative assessment of Mizuho Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, due to the downgrade of Japan and subsequent fears that the country has in the future less capacity to support the banking sector in the event of another financial crisis.

The heavier debt burden

Japan is in debt to the tune of about twice its gross domestic product (GDP) and the burden grows each year through the issuance of Treasury bills returned to fill much lower expenses, particularly since the international economic crisis of 2008 – 2009. This is the first time a major rating agency lowers rating of Japan since the disaster of March 11 coupled with a nuclear power plant in Fukushima.However, Moody's had warned in late May of this risk.

The new Aa3 rating assigned to Japan is the fourth best on the scale to 19 notches by Moody's, which means it is still regarded as an issuer of debt of high quality. The rival Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch, which are currently quite similar ruling on Japan, however, warned in April and May that they could also lower the rating of the country soon.

"The earthquake of March has undermined Japan's recovery from the global recession of 2009 and economic growth prospects are low, making it more difficult for the government to achieve the goals of deficit reduction and to launch a major reforming the tax system and social benefits ", explained Moody's.Japan is currently in recession, even if slowly industrial activity tends to recover its previous pace, and if consumer confidence was somewhat restored.

Political instability weighs on the outlook for recovery

While Japan is preparing to nominate next week's sixth prime minister in five years, Moody's also cited political instability as one of the reasons obèrent decisions for the long term. "Over the past five years, frequent changes in leadership have prevented the government from implementing economic and fiscal strategies that can be effective and sustainable," she said.As a result, the prospects for progressive restoration of fiscal balance are constantly deferred and, despite promises to cut spending, "the annual budget deficit is still as it inevitably leads to an increase in the debt ratio reported the wealth produced. "

This warning shot of Moody's comes as the tenors of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ, center left) compete for the succession of the Chief Executive, Naoto Kan, which should leave office early next week. "The downgrade is unfortunate," responded the current Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan. The Minister of Finance candidate to replace Mr Kan, has meanwhile refused to comment directly on the decision of Moody's, but he defended Japanese bonds."I will not shares of a private agency, but the problem without offering treasury bills from Japanese investors show confidence in them remains intact," pleaded Yoshihiko Noda.

Degradation of the note was not very noticeable effect on the yen against the dollar, the ticket remains fairly stable over 76.50 yen. However, it has been dropped from 1.07% the Nikkei index of blue chips on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, due to the significant decline in shares of Japanese banks that Moody's has also block minus ratings. According to brokers, listings of Moody's does not constitute a big surprise to investors and the financial consequences of Tokyo will probably be limited.The decision of the agency will however increase the pressure on the next Japanese government that put its finances through higher taxes, analysts said.

To anticipate the inevitable effects of global warming expected by the end of the century, France will adopt a national plan of adaptation declined by more than 230 measures and presented Wednesday by the Minister for Ecology Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet . "Climate change is not in doubt, the uncertainty that still hangs over its size should not prevent action," says one to the department.

The 5-year plan, the first of its kind adopted by a country of the European Union said the report, prepare a list of measures and recommendations for agriculture, water management and forestry, transport, disaster such as floods, or to adapt tourism to the new climate.The exercise is based on scenarios developed by Météo France and the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace who expect a temperature increase of 2 to 3.5 degrees by the end of this century including a lengthening periods of summer drought and higher temperatures than previously known.

For the only example of water, the plan incorporates the idea of ​​a consumption reduction of 20% by 2020 advanced in May, for aid to recover rainwater, reuse of treated wastewater , improve the performance of cooling towers of nuclear power plants or even better leak detection on networks of drinking water. They are currently responsible for 25% loss of this precious natural element.

Health side, rising temperatures will promote the development of insects, microorganisms producing toxins and allergenic pollen. The creation of a climate-health monitoring must alert the government on critical situations. Learning from the 2003 heatwave, which caused deformation of rails, the plan focuses on the adaptation of transport infrastructure with the establishment, among others, a methodology for assessing the vulnerability of networks .

The two groups were in discussions for several weeks after having given up their initial project, announced in January, which included the creation of a joint venture equally owned and whose governance would be ensured parity.

The new installation provides a successful acquisition of a minority group Canal + pay-TV in Orange Cinema Series up to 33.33%, France Telecom retaining a stake of 66.66%.

The project, devised a time, a merger of cinema chains Orange TPS Star is abandoned.

In a joint statement, the two groups indicate that governance "will be provided by both partners in proportion to their percentage of ownership."

The new partnership project, whose financial terms were not specified, must still be submitted to the representatives and the regulator.

At 13:00, the action of France Telecom and Vivendi, parent company of Canal +, were stable at 13.885 euros and 17.01 euros respectively.

RECONCILIATION

The announcement of the agreement seals the reconciliation between the two groups after a tense, marked by the offensive of the telecom operator in the field of content, the preserve of pay-TV group.

France Telecom has launched a redesign of its strategy in the content, preferring to concentrate now on partnerships for its television channels.

This thinking has led the telecom operator to negotiate with Canal + channels for its Cinema Series, and reflect on the future of Orange Sport.

Orange, which now pay up to 203 million euros per year for the game Saturday night and mobile rights to broadcast football matches in Ligue 1, has been largely absent from the last auction for television coverage.

The French group told Reuters last week that he was discussing a sale of Orange Sport to the Qatari Al Jazeera, which in June won the rights to broadcast games in Ligue 1 and will launch in the months come a new French-language channel devoted exclusively to sports.

Canal + put his side on a warming of relations with the telecom operator that is one of the leading distributors of its bouquet Canal Satellite.

The encrypted string is also mobilized by the planned launch in theory by the end of its first free channel on DTT.