UK Stocks -- Factors to watch on Monday 17 Jan

LONDON Jan 17 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE is seen rising 1-4 points at open on Monday with trading set to be light with a public holiday in the United States and little in the diary for corporate or economic data.

The blue chip index is seen gaining as much as 0.1 percent after it closed down 21.81 points at 6,002.07 on Friday.

In the United States, in which markets are closed for Martin Luther King Jr Holiday on Monday, the S&P 500 ended a seventh straight week of gains on Friday with a banks-led rally amid healthy volume after encouraging financial results from JPMorgan.

Asian markets were subdued on Monday with Japan's Nikkei 225 .N225 flat and Asian shares ex-Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS down 0.6 percent.

Heavyweight commodity stocks are likely to be weighed by weaker commodity prices, with metals and crude CLc1 slightly lower.

A drop in the number of new homes coming onto the market helped property asking prices rise in January for the first time in three months, property website Rightmove said on Monday. [ID:nLDE70D1PH]

However January's 0.3 percent rise was tiny in comparison with the declines seen in the final two months of last year.

* GLOBAL MRKTS-Asia markets take China move in stride [ID:nL3E7CG0CD]

* Banks lead S&P 500 to seventh week of gains [ID:nN14193494]

* Nikkei retreats after China mkt hit by tightening [ID:nTOE70G02W]

* FOREX-Euro off 1-month high, short-covering peters out [ID:nTOE70G02D]

* Gold shrugs off China tightening; physical buying aids [ID:nL3E7CH03Z]

* Copper extends gains after US data; eyes record high [ID:nL3E7CH05A]

* NYMEX-Crude little changed above $91 a barrel [ID:nTOE70F00P]

Companies to watch on Monday include:

BP (BP.L)

* BP and Russia's state-controlled Rosneft (ROSN.MM) agreed to a share swap under which they plan to jointly explore for offshore oil and gas in a deal that gives the UK company access to areas of the Arctic previously reserved for Russian oil companies. [ID:nN1458487]

* Australia granted offshore petroleum exploration permits to BP on Monday in a vote of confidence after last year's catastrophic Deep Water Horizon oil spill, but with strict safety and environmental safeguards attached to the deal. [ID:nL3E7CH03W]

* Plaintiffs' lawyers battling BP in the oil-spill litigation may be united in the desire to make the company pay, but they've started fighting over whether to try to rein in Kenneth Feinberg, who runs BP's $20 billion oil-spill victims' compensation fund. [ID:nN14193146]

SMITH & NEPHEW (SN.L)

U.S. healthcare group Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) is considering a fresh takeover approach for British artificial knee and hip maker Smith & Nephew, the Sunday Times reported without citing sources. [ID:nLDE70F09W]

BG GROUP (BG.L)

The British oil and gas firm, Tunisia's largest producer of gas, said on Friday it may evacuate staff as the North African country suffers its worst unrest in decades. [ID:nLDE70D1XP]

ANGLO AMERICAN (AAL.L)

South Africa's Kumba Iron Ore (KIOJ.J), a unit of Anglo American, said on Monday its full-year profit likely doubled, boosted by increased sales and export prices. [ID:nLDE70G03U]

Separately, the miner is planning to sell businesses worth 3 billion pounds this year, including the building materials group Tarmac as part of a huge cost-cutting drive by its chief executive, Cynthia Carroll, the Guardian said.

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (RBS.L)

The bank's non-executive director Colin Buchan is set to step down from his role in March, the Financial Times said oN Monday, citing people familiar with the plan. [ID:nLDE70G007]

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (BATS.L)

British American Tobacco Uganda BATU.NR, a unit of BAT, said 2,000 tonnes of tobacco leaves, equivalent to about 11 percent of annual production, may have been lost in a warehouse destroyed by fire on Friday.

NORTHERN FOODS NFDS.L

Food tycoon Ranjit Boparan is weighing up whether to bid for food manufacturer Northern Foods, potentially derailing its planned merger with Ireland's Greencore GNC.I ahead of a deadline on Friday. [ID:nLDE70F0BN]

MINERVA MNR.L

The British property developer said it was in preliminary talks that may lead to an offer for the group, in a post-trading statement after its shares rose 10.8 percent on Friday. [ID:nLDE70D26G]

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times [PRESS/FT]

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