LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening
33-39 points, or as much as 0.6 percent, lower on Monday, according to financial
bookmakers, tracking falls in Asia and on Wall Street, with weaker commodity
prices seen denting heavyweight oils and miners.
The UK blue-chip index closed up 23.79 points, or 0.5 percent, on Friday at
5.011.47, the highest closing level since late September 2008, after earlier
hitting an intraday peak for 2009 of 5,038.76.
The FTSE has so far rebounded 45 percent from the lows hit in
March, but remains around 7.5 percent below levels prior to the
collapse of Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers exactly a year ago.
U.S. stocks broke a five-day winning streak on Friday, while Japan's Nikkei
average .N225 dropped 2.4 percent on Monday, pushed lower by exporters after
the dollar hit a fresh seven-month low against the yen.
Oil CLc1 lost more than a dollar on Monday, falling toward $68 a barrel
hit by a rebound in the recently-hammered U.S. dollar and renewed concerns that
oil prices may have run ahead of market fundamentals.
No important economic data is due for release on Monday in the UK or the
United States, although the August RICS UK house price survey will released
tonight.
A report to be published on Monday by leading economic consultancy the Ernst
& Young Item Club concludes that the recent stabilisation of the UK housing
market is the result of an acute shortage of properties, the Financial Times
said.
* GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar higher, Japan shares hit by yen [ID:nHKG82139]
* Nikkei slides as exporters battered by yen; JAL up [ID:nT18588]
* US STOCKS-Wall St ends 5 days of gains as oil weighs [ID:nN11461889]
* FOREX-Dollar climbs as speculators reverse course [ID:nT101867]
* TREASURIES-Ten-yr notes edge higher as stocks falter [ID:nT293163]
* Oil extends drop towards $68 on demand concerns [ID:nSYD477582]
* PRECIOUS-Gold falls as dollar rebounds, above $1,000 [ID:nT111041]
* METALS-Copper falls to 2-wk lows on dollar gains [ID:nMAN391428]
UK stocks to watch on Monday are:
RIO TINTO (RIO.L)
The global miner has received approval from the Brazilian National Defence
Council for the proposed sale of its Corumba iron ore mine to Brazil's Vale SA
(VALE5.SA), Rio Tinto said on Monday. [ID:nSYU007226]
J SAINSBURY (SBRY.L)
The food retailer is expected to announce within the next few weeks that
David Tyler, currently chairman of Logica will succeed Sir Phillip Hampton as
its chairman, the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph said. [ID:nLD486723]
BANKS
Shadow UK chancellor George Osborne is looking at selling a tranche of
shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) to
retail investors, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
RESOLUTION (RSL.L)
John Tiner, chief executive of Resolution, has suggested that in addition to
current plans to pursue life assurers and asset managers, Resolution could buy a
general insurer or even a bank's unwanted commercial credit unit as it seeks to
shake up European financial services the Times said on Monday.
CADBURY (CBRY.L)
The British confectioner turned up the heat in its defence against a
takeover bid from Kraft (KFT.N) on Saturday as its Chairman Roger Carr said it
was an "unappealing prospect" being absorbed into Kraft's low growth
conglomerate business model. [nLC109200]
3i GROUP (III.L)
The private equity group has agreed to sell a portfolio of investments in
small European companies to a consortium of rivals for around 130 million pounds
($217 million). [nLD507180]
AVIVA (AV.L)
The British insurer has no plans currently to refinance any debt with bond
issues, its chairman Lord Sharman of Redlynch told Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper.
[nLC303508]
JJB SPORTS (JJB.L)
Tony Barnfather, lawyer for former JJB chief executive Chris Ronnie, says
that Ronnie is being made a "scapegoat" in an Office of Fair Trading
investigation into possible price fixing between JJB (JJB.L) and Sports
Direct(SPD.L), the Financial Times said on Monday.
YELL GROUP (YELL.L)
The British yellow pages publisher has secured shareholder backing for a
rights issue for up to 500 million pounds ($835 million) to help ease its debt,
The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported. [ID:nLD489695]
BROADCASTERS
British Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw is expected to propose regulatory
reforms which would allow commercial broadcasters to receive payment for
featuring brands in TV programmes; ITV (ITV.L) said that the proposed changes
would be "warmly welcomed", with product placement potentially an "important new
revenue stream", the Financial Times said.
INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA (INME.I)
Anthony O'Reilly is close to agreeing to give up his controlling stake in
Independent News & Media in exchange for banks agreeing a rescue plan for the
stricken publishing company, the Times said on Monday. [nLE104176]
BRITISH AIRWAYS (BAY.L)
The proposed merger between British Airways and Spain's national airline,
Iberia (IBLA)MC>, is expected to go ahead, despite concerns over the size of
BA's pension deficit currently estimated at 2.1 billion pounds ($3.51 billion)
although a revaluation, the results of which are due next month, is expected to
show a shortfall nearer three billion pounds, The Mail on Sunday said.
ANTISOMA (ASM.L)
The biotech firm posts full-year results.
PLETHORA SOLUTIONS HOLDINGDS (PLE.L)
The urology specialists reports first-half results.
ASIA DIGITAL HOLDINGS (ADH.L)
The online marketing group delivers first-half results.
(Reporting by Jon Hopkins)
