``Oil shares look likely to get whacked at the open,'' said Simon Payne, a trader at Ahorro Corp Financiera in Madrid. ``We may see a pause for breath today'' in the market. Infineon Technologies AG may gain after Citigroup Inc. said investors should own more shares of Europe's second-biggest semiconductor maker. ITV Plc might rise after the Financial Times reported that RTL Group, Europe's largest broadcaster, is working on a possible bid. Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the 12 countries using the euro, fell 5 to 4111 as of 7:50 a.m. in London. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index may drop 10 to 6245, according to CMC Markets. The Stoxx 600 index, approaching the highest level since January 2001, is headed for its second weekly advance on speculation mergers and acquisitions will increase and higher borrowing costs won't cut earnings growth. BP and Shell, Europe's largest energy companies, are likely to slide after oil prices plunged 4.3 percent on speculation OPEC will exceed its production target. Oil fell as much as 27 cents, or 0.5 percent, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $55.99 a barrel, taking the decline this week to 6 percent, the largest drop since the week ended Oct. 7 last year. Repsol, Infineon Repsol YPF SA might decline after UBS AG cut Europe's fifth- largest oil company to ``reduce'' from ``neutral,'' noting that Repsol has postponed the partial IPO of its YPF subsidiary in Argentina. Separately, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. reduced its recommendation to ``underweight'' from ``equal weight.'' Infineon may rise after Citigroup raised its recommendation to ``buy'' from ``hold,'' saying investors should ``look through'' first-half 2007 concerns. Infineon shares fell 2.3 percent yesterday after it unexpectedly posted a seventh straight loss because of costs to separate the memory-chip unit and the collapse of Benq Corp.'s German unit, a major customer. ITV might rise after the FT reported RTL is working with private equity backers on a possible 5 billion pounds ($9.4 billion) offer for the U.K. broadcaster. The plan would allow the private equity groups to put up more of the funds and allow RTL to acquire a minority stake without the help of its parent, Bertelsmann AG, which has a heavy debt load, the FT said. MAN Bid MAN AG might be active. Europe's third-largest truckmaker is willing to raise its bid for Scania AB to convince Scania shareholder Investor AB to accept a merger, Svenska Dagbladet reported, citing MAN Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson. British Energy Group Plc may drop after the U.K.'s largest power producer reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization below analysts' estimates. Shares of Deutsche Telekom AG might rise. Europe's biggest phone company may sell parts of its T-Systems unit, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. Cie. Financiere Richemont AG may be active. The world's second-biggest luxury-goods company said fiscal first-half profit increased 22 percent to 645 million euros ($823 million). That beat the 615 million-euro median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of seven analysts. PIN/BLOOMBERG