UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Tues. Feb. 26

Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 96 to 101 points lower, or as much as 1.6 percent, on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on

* The FTSE 100 closed up 19.67 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,355.37 on Monday, but lost the majority of its early gains in the lead up to elections in Italy, which delivered a parliamentary deadlock that threatened to blow Europe's largest debtor off the reform path.

* Italy's centre left said in a statement on Monday it has won the lower house and gathered more votes than its centre-right rival in the Senate in parliamentary elections.

* No important British economic data will be released on Monday, with little due all week aside from the second reading of fourth-quarter GDP on Wednesday.

SHIRE : The drugmaker gained on Monday on re-hashed bid rumours with AstraZeneca again being talked of as a potential suitor, according to the Daily Express market report.

BP : A long-awaited trial over the biggest U.S. offshore oil spill began on Monday, with governments, businesses and individuals blaming BP Plc mostly for the 2010 disaster that killed 11 rig workers and spilled 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

A 102,500 barrel-per-day gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit remains shut at BP's 240,000 bpd Los Angeles-area refinery in Carson, California, after maintenance work was extended, according to sources familiar with operations at the refinery.

* BANKS: Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are planning to raise more capital via bonds that convert into shares in times of crisis, to help meet safeguards for taxpayers that are being demanded by regulators, according to sources.

* VODAFONE : British mobile operator Vodafone said it did not need to sell part of its stake in its highly profitable Verizon Wireless joint venture in the United States to bolster its business in Europe.

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

FULL YEAR RESULTS:

CRODA INTERNATIONAL - SPECIALITY CHEMICAL COMPANY

DEVRO - SAUSAGE SKIN MAKER

GOALS SOCCER CENTRES - FOOTBALL PITCHES OPERATOR

ROBERT WALTERS - RECRUITER

GKN - ENGINEER

PROVIDENT FINANCIAL - SPECIALIST LENDER

ELEMENTIS - CHEMICALS MAKER

INTERIM RESULTS:

DECHRA PHARMACEUTICALS - DRUGMAKER

REDROW - HOUSEBUILDER

CRANEWARE - FINANCIAL SERVICES SOFTWARE SUPPLIER

TENNON - ACCOUNTANCY AND BUSINESS ADVISORY FIRM

WILMINGTON - INFORMATION PROVIDER FOR THE COMPLIANCE AND EDUCATION TO PROFESSIONAL MARKETS

TRADING UPDATE

WHITBREAD - PUBS, HOTEL AND COFFE CHAIN OWNER

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit* BridgeStation: view story .134(Written by David Brett)