NEW YORK — International Business Machines Corp. (IBM.N) and Novell Inc. (NOVL.O) on Monday declined to comment on rumors that IBM was looking to take over the business software maker.

Shares of Novell were up 1-7/16 to 10-5/8 in heavy trade on Nasdaq. IBM shares were off 3/16 to 120-9/16 on the New York Stock Exchange.

"We don't comment on rumors,'' said IBM spokeswoman Carol Makovich.

"Typically we don't comment on these kinds of rumors,'' said a