MILAN (Reuters) -
The worst of the financial crisis is over
and markets should start settling from the second half of this
year, the head of France's biggest listed bank, BNP Paribas,
told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

"The worst should be over and I think that from the second
half onwards the crisis should normalize: that is, the phase of
exceptional turbulence on the markets should end," Baudouin
Prot, chief executive of BNP, said in an interview published on
Sunday.

"I still expect (markets) to stay volatile," he added.

He said BNP had only been touched "lightly" by the crisis
in the U.S. subprime mortgage market as the bank had only 200
million euros of exposure.

Prot said he was in favor of a pan-European committee to
supervise markets "with strong decision-making powers over
banking."

But he added that it was also "important to keep a close
eye on sectors of the financial industry which are still not
supervised."

Prot reiterated that BNP was not interested in buying rival
Societe Generale, as it said in March. "We haven't changed our
view," he told La Repubblica.

He added that BNP was "under no pressure to make new
acquisitions" but would not let any good opportunities slip.

Turning to Italy, where BNP owns lender BNL, Prot said the
French bank would continue to invest in the Italian bank's
growth.

He added BNP would not sell its 50 percent holding in
consumer credit business Findomestic. The other half of the
business is owned by Italy's biggest retail bank, Intesa
Sanpaolo, and the two are fighting over control.

(Reporting by Jo Winterbottom; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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SEOUL (Reuters) -
Business sentiment at big South Korean
companies has hit its lowest in more than three years due to
worries about soaring oil and raw material prices and sluggish
domestic consumption, a private survey showed on Sunday.

Concern about street protests triggered by a deal to reopen
the country to beef imports from the United States and the
prospect of labor union strikes over pay added to the
pessimistic view, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI)
said in a statement on its survey about the business climate
for July.

The business survey index compiled by the FKI, the
country's biggest lobby group for large companies, fell to a
seasonally adjusted 91.2 for July from a revised 96.3 for June.

The figure is the lowest since 82.3 in January 2005.

A reading below 100 means more companies expect their
business conditions to worsen than to improve.

Unionized metal industry workers in South Korea, including
those at car makers such as Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS), said
that they would stop work for two hours on Wednesday to demand
a reworking of the beef deal with the United States.

Oil prices touched a record high of nearly $143 a barrel on
Friday, with investors piling into commodity markets as stock
markets and the dollar plunged.

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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TEL AVIV (Reuters) -
Delek US Holdings Inc (DK.N) has begun
negotiations to purchase a U.S. refinery in a possible $1
billion deal, parent company Delek Group Ltd (DELKG.TA) said on
Sunday.

In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Delek Group
did not identify its negotiating partner or the refinery, which
it said could produce between 75,000 and 100,000 barrels per
day.

Delek Group said a deal could include the purchase of fuel
tankers and agreements to supply 400 to 450 gas stations and
convenience stores.

It said Delek US Holdings Inc was holding preliminary
negotiations and it was impossible at this stage to assess
whether a deal would be agreed or when one might be completed.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Alan Raybould)

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