Business Blog Posts

* Some caution was expected ahead of the conclusion of a Group of 20 meeting in South Korea, which is seeking to tackle economic imbalances and fend off the prospect of damaging currency devaluations.

* The dollar pared its losses on wariness over whether any clear agreement would be reached at the meeting, and the U.S. urged countries to avoid using their currencies to gain an economic advantage.

* U.S. corporate earnings in focus on Friday include Verizon Communications (VZ.N), which is expected to lose some ground for now to rival AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier of Apple's iPhone. Some analysts, however, are optimistic about the future amid speculation that the iPhone may finally come to Verizon customers next year.

* Other companies expected to report earnings include manufacturer Honeywell HON.L and oilfield service provider Schlumberger (SLB.N)

* In company news, AIA, the Asian life insurance arm of AIG (AIG.N), is set to raise $17.9 billion after pricing its Hong Kong IPO at the top of its range, as investors piled into a company with a wide footprint across rapidly growing Asia.

* Genzyme (GENZ.O) will meet investors in New York to argue its case for rejecting an $18.5 billion offer from French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA). The U.S. biotechnology company will provide a 2011 earnings forecast, which, if higher than analysts are expecting, could lead Sanofi to raise its bid.

* Wall Street edged higher late on in a choppy session on Thursday, buoyed by strong earnings but a firmer U.S. dollar limited gains.

* Shares in American Express (AXP.N) and SanDisk (SNDK.O) were among those to rise after the closing bell following the release of their earnings, while Baidu Corp (BIDU.O) slipped in extended trade after its results.

* On the economic front, two top Federal Reserve officials gave competing views on the need for more monetary stimulus to the U.S. economy, continuing a public debate over further easing even though the core view at the central bank appears to favor such a move.

* Growing speculation in recent weeks that the Fed will extend quantitative easing measures at its next meeting in November has put pressure on the dollar while boosting equities, but uncertainty over how much the central bank might inject into the economy has caused some choppiness in markets.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares was down 0.2 percent by 5:14 a.m. ET, with mining shares among the heaviest fallers.

(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

G20 finance officials started their formal meetings on Friday with nations from the developing world and Japan dismissing the U.S. proposals which it says are aimed at defusing tensions that economists fear could trigger trade wars.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in a letter to finance leaders that was seen by Reuters, said "countries with persistent surpluses should undertake structural, fiscal and exchange rate policies to boost domestic sources of growth."

In return, countries such as the United States that are running big budget and trade deficits would adopt "sustainable medium-term fiscal targets."

Geithner's overtures have already been rejected by countries as diverse as India and Japan and markets are skeptical of a universal deal that would address global economic imbalances and tackle attempts by many emerging economies and others to weaken their currencies.

While the G20 won praise for coordination of stimulus packages during the global financial crisis, its sense of unity has gradually evaporated in the face of strains resulting from unprecedented efforts to revive global growth.

"There is an action plan, but there is an awful lot of complaints, proposals," Russian finance official Andrey Bokarev said ahead of the meetings.

A financial source who met with Geithner in South Korea said that the U.S. official had asked countries to limit their current account surpluses or deficits to 4 percent of gross domestic product, something that few G20 members felt able to accept.

China, India, Saudi Arabia and Russia are all running substantial surpluses while the U.S. is in deficit.

"We need to talk about it first, but numerical targets are unrealistic," Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said.

The issue of addressing "undervalued" currencies will also tax leaders, although Canadian policymakers said that China had agreed in principle to move toward more foreign exchange flexibility.

The U.S. dollar was down 0.27 percent against a basket of six major currencies, near a low for the year struck last Friday and currency strategists said there would be further weakness if the G20 disappointed.

CURRENCY ISSUE REMAINS UNANSWERED

Geithner's letter made no reference to the anticipated language of the final communiqué on foreign exchange arrangements.

He did state that G20 countries "should commit to refrain from exchange rate policies designed to achieve competitive advantage by either weakening their currency or preventing the appreciation of an undervalued currency."

The pricing of the IPO, set to be the world's third biggest, comes amid a boom of new listings in Asia and puts an end to a long-running saga for American International Group Inc

(AIG.N).

Its bid to sell AIA and use some of the proceeds to pay back part of a whopping $182.3 billion U.S. bailout it received during the financial crisis began two years ago and included two failed auction attempts and two floatation efforts.

AIA said on Friday the IPO was priced at HK$19.68 each and fully exercised the upsize option, confirming an earlier Reuters report. If the underwriters exercise the overallotment option, the IPO size will rise by 15 percent to $20.5 billion. AIA's trading debut is set for October 29.

"Investors did not dare to miss this jumbo deal, as the market has ample liquidity and the sentiment is very strong," said Antonny Cheng, a fund manager at Gain Asset Management Ltd.

AIA has been in the Asian region for more than 90 years and operates in 15 markets, with forecast pre-tax operating profit of $2 billion.

Life insurance premiums in Asia-Pacific are forecast to grow at a compound annual clip of 12.3 percent between 2009-2014, Sigma Swiss Re estimates, compared with flat to modest growth in other parts of the world.

Still, the company faces a tough challenge with expanding in China, where the mainland's top industry players dominate and more foreign competitors are flooding the market.

The IPO will value AIA at $30.5 billion at the top end, with AIG holding a 41.6 percent stake that will drop to 33 percent if the green-shoe option is exercised in full.

"It's more or less fully valued after the shares were sold at the top end," said Francis Lun, general manager with Fulbright Securities. "Still one could expect a 5 percent upside on debut."

AIA sold 5.86 billion secondary shares and exercised the upsize option to sell an additional 1.17 billion secondary shares due to strong demand from investors.

Unlike many other foreign insurers, AIA has 100 percent ownership of its entities in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. AIA has more than 300,000 agents in Asia.

"This is a cost effective way for IPO investors to ride China's growth," said Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com in Marina del Rey, California.

Asian IPOs raised $90 billion in the first three quarters, more than double the combined total from the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to Thomson Reuters.