Jan 9 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 16 points
higher at 7,591
on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.
* TESCO: Thailand's state-owned energy firm PTT Pcl said neither it
nor its retail unit were interested in bidding for Tesco Plc's assets
in Asia.
* CIIA CODE: Internal auditors should have direct access to top company
bosses to help avoid Carillion-style corporate crashes, a new industry code said
on Wednesday. The code from the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA)
aims to restore credibility in internal auditors' ability to be the "eyes and
ears" of boards to stamp out poor governance and misconduct.
* RETAIL SPENDING: British shoppers cut back on spending in late 2019,
rounding off the worst year since at least the mid-1990s for retail sales as
measured by an industry group which blamed uncertainty about Brexit and last
month's election for the slump.
* GOLD: Gold prices edged higher as investors preferred to stay put with
safe-haven assets even though the chances of an escalation in U.S.-Iran conflict
waned after the two sides softened their stance.
* OIL: Oil prices climbed after a rocket attack on Baghdad triggered fresh
concern over the potential for conflict in the Middle East, a day after markets
were roiled by an Iranian missile strike on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. forces.
* EX-DIVS: Aveva Group will trade without entitlement to their
latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 0.04 points off the FTSE 100
according to Reuters calculations
* London's main index recouped almost all its earlier losses on Wednesday as
markets hoped flaring tensions between the United States and Iran would not
escalate further, while midcaps slipped as worries of a hard Brexit resurfaced.
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Card Factory CARDC.L Trading Update
Dunelm DNLM.L Trading Update
Hilton Food Group HFG.L Trading Update
Nichols NICL.L Trading Update
Robert Walters RWA.L Q4 Trading Update
Tesco TSCO.L Q3 Trading Update
Marks & Spencer MKS.L Q3 Trading Update
Naked Wines WINEW.L Christmas Trading Update
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
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(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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