UK Stocks -- Factors to watch on July 9

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index
is seen opening up as much as 0.4 percent on Thursday, according
to financial bookmakers, snapping a three-day losing run ahead
of the Bank of England's interest rate decision.

Financial spreadbetters expected the UK benchmark to open up
9 to 15 points after closing down 46.77 points, or 1.1 percent
at 4,140.23 on Wednesday to hit its lowest closing level in more
than two months.
The BoE looks likely to expand its 125 billion pound
quantitative easing programme and keep interest rates at their
record low of 0.5 percent when it announces its decision at 1100
GMT.
Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI and the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC eked out gains as a late-stage rally
brought stocks off their lows on hopes that the quarterly
earnings season would deliver good news.

After the market close, aluminium giant Alcoa (AA.N)
reported a smaller-than-expected loss that gave a positive tone
to the start of the second-quarter earnings season.

However, Japanese stocks .N225 fell after the yen spiked
to a five-month high against the dollar, with investors seeking
to trim riskier bets amid growing concerns about the health of
the global economy.

* Dow, Nasdaq squeeze out gains before Alcoa results

[ID:nN08410824]

* Nikkei drops 0.5 pct, exporters stung by yen surge

[ID:nT172485]

* GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks struggle after yen surge, bonds firm
[ID:nSP471690]

* Oil rebounds towards $61 after fall on bearish inventories
[ID:nSP467536]

* Yen slides after sharp rally on risk aversion

[ID:nT39294]

* TREASURIES-Strong auction shows safe-haven bonds in favour
[ID:nN08398808]

* PRECIOUS-Gold lifts from 2-month low; ETF holdings dip

[ID:nT169289]

UK stocks to watch on Thursday are:

TULLOW OIL (TLW.L)

Tullow Oil, Europe's largest independent oil explorer by
market value, plans to drill more wells off West Africa in the
second half of the year, its Chief Executive Aidan Heavey told
the Financial Times on Thursday. [ID:nL9706334]

ANGLO AMERICAN (AAL.L), XSTRATA (XTA.L)

All of Anglo American's leading institutional shareholders
are understood to have turned down Xstrata's proposed 140
billion pounds nil-premium merger of equals, The Times said.

RIO TINTO (RIO.L)

Four employees of Rio Tinto have been arrested in China on
charges of stealing state secrets, the official Xinhua news
agency said on Thursday, citing Shanghai state security
authorities. [ID:nPEK180094]

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL (RDSa.L) (RDSb.L)

The oil major urged the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to give oil
refiners a bigger share of free pollution permits under a
cap-and-trade plan to fight global warming than the House of
Representatives provided in its climate change legislation.
[ID:nN08512708]

SEGRO (SGRO.L)

Segro will reveal on Thursday that the final terms of its
purchase of industrial property rival Brixton (BXTN.L) have been
approved by the company boards, bring the takeover near
completion, the Financial Times reported.

ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS (ABF.L)

The company is due to issue its trading update.

Meanwhile, the Independent newspaper reported that Guy
Young, Primark's director of international trading has quit
after less than a year at a time when the discount fashion
retailer, owned by AB Foods, is cranking up its European
expansion programme.

MAN GROUP (EMG.L)

The hedge fund group is due to issue its trading update.

PREMIER OIL (PMO.L)

The oil explorer is due to issue its trading update.

HAYS (HAYS.L)

The recruiter is due to issue its trading update.

BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS (BDEV.L)

The housebuilder is due to issue its trading update.

COMPUTACENTER (CCC.L)

The company is due to issue its trading update.

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times [PRESS/FT]

> Other business headlines [PRESS/GB]

(Reporting by Dominic Lau)