New York - US stock index futures were rising early on Friday, building on record highs set in the previous session by the Dow industrials and S&P 500 and ahead of the debut of Alibaba Group on the New York Stock Exchange.
* Alibaba priced its initial public offering on Thursday at $68 (R750) a share, the top end of the expected range, giving it more market value than US e-commerce rivals Amazon and eBay.
* Shares of Yahoo, which is selling part of its Alibaba stake but will remain a top shareholder, were among the most traded on the Nasdaq.
Yahoo has risen 4.1 percent so far this year, compared with a 10 percent gain in the Nasdaq Composite.
* Oracle shares fell 3 percent premarket after Larry Ellison, co-founder and leader for 37 years, stepped aside as chief executive.
He will be replaced by co-chief executives Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, raising questions about a job-sharing arrangement that has had mixed records elsewhere.
* The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for August is due at 10:00 a.m. (16:00 SA time).
The index posted a 0.9 percent increase in July.
Futures snapshot at 7:29 EDT (13:29 SA time):
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.3 percent, with 30,319 contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were gaining 13.5 points, or 0.33 percent, in volume of 2,848 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 69 points, or 0.4 percent, with 2,559 contracts changing hands. - Reuters