Shares of UBS AG rose in early trading Friday on comments by a former president of the Swiss bank, who urged it spin off its investment unit after massive write-downs related to the U.S. subprime crisis.
Luqman Arnold said in a letter posted on the Web site of his London-based investment bank Olivent Ltd. that that UBS's "one bank" integrated model will not survive the "damage inflicted by the proprietary trading losses and writedowns."
Shares of UBS rose $1.06, or 3.2 percent, to $33.55.
Another foreign-based company, Solarfun Power Holdings Co., made gains in the premarket as well. The Chinese solar-power product maker added 3 percent to $15.38.
Biotechnology company Dendreon Corp. rose 5.9 percent to $5.59.
On the losing side, Riverbed Technology Inc.'s shares fell after the data service provider lowered its first-quarter forecast due to weak sales. The stock declined $1.37, or 9.4 percent, to $13.26.
And Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. shares were unchanged from Thursday's close, despite being one of the most heavily traded issues in the premarket Friday. A Credit Suisse analyst downgraded the shares to "Neutral."
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