Technology stocks mirrored Dow uptick.

Share prices of bank technology stocks edged up slightly last week, joining the market in general. Wall Street received U.S. government employment figures Friday that eased fears the economy was growing too fast.

The big winners among suppliers of bank technology tracked by American Banker were payment systems firms. SPS Transaction was up $2.36 for the week, closing at $53-5/8. First Financial Management Corp. closed at 58-1/8.

Those firms were the standouts among the 25 companies in American Banker's universe. Shares prices for most rose slightly or were unchanged, with two exceptions.

Two outsourcers -- Electronic Data Systems Corp. and First Data Corp. - each fell by $1.50

On Wall Street, the week was slow, awaiting monthly employment statistics which were released Friday morning. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 13.32 for the day, or 0.35%, to 3,772.22. The advance was enough to leave the average at its highest level since March 25.

The Department of Labor said the unemployment rate fell to 6% from 6.4%, but the drop was due to new methods used to calculate the figures.

Jack Henry and Associates Inc. of Monett, Mo., announced that it had completed negotiations for an Indonesian firm to license and distribute Jack Henry's Bankvision International application software.

A spokesman for the community banking software company expects it Bankvision unit to be profitable during the current quarter after reporting losses for each of the two most recent quarters.

Jack Henry stock closed at 9-1/2. Merrill Lynch analyst Stuart Goldberg announced on Wednesday that he had initiated coverage of Bisys Group Inc. Mr. Goldberg set earnings estimate for fiscal year 1994 at 87 cents per share and fiscal 1995 at $1.06.

Shares of Bisys closed at $9.50.

Redwood City, Calif-based, Verifone Inc., the largest supplier of point of sale terminals to merchants in the United States, has set up a subsidiary to target Japan's transaction automation market. Called Nihon Verifone KK, the unit will be based in Tokyo and will provide technical and back up support for Verifone's POS transaction systems.

Verifone shares closed at 17.25.

Atlant-based Equifax Inc.'s Equifax Canada announced it has signed an agreement to purchased Ontario-based Canadian Bonded Credits, Canada's second-largest debt recovery organization.

A company official said the acquisition will put the combined collection portfolio of Equifax Canada's exceeding $500 million (Canadian).

The deal is expected to close by the middle of summer with expectations of annual revenues exceeding $30 million (Canadian) for the unit. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Equifax shares closed at $28.

Standard & Poor's Corp. affirmed it single-A rating for First Data Corp's. senior debt on news of a rejection of the institution's takeover offer for New Valley Corp.

S&P said the rating reflects First Data's well positioned business, strong operating performance, and expectations that management will maintain its current financial policy.

First Data's stock closed at $45.25.

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