Dec 6 - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 18 points higher at
7,156 on Friday, according to financial bookmakers.
* GLENCORE: The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a bribery
investigation into Glencore, adding to legal troubles that have hit the
shares of one of the world's biggest miners and commodity traders.
* CENTAMIN: Endeavour Mining's top boss said on Thursday the
Canadian firm was reaching out to Centamin shareholders to back its $1.9
billion merger plan, days after the British gold miner's board rejected the
all-stock proposal.
* WPP: WPP said on Thursday it had completed the sale of 60% of data
analytics business Kantar to private equity firm Bain Capital and would return
about $1.2 billion to shareholders via a share repurchase programme.
* GOLD: Gold was en route to a weekly gain on Friday as uncertainty about
the fate of U.S.-China trade deal gripped investors ahead of a U.S. jobs report
that could offer further insight on the state of the American economy.
* OIL: Oil slipped in early Asian trade on Friday, with U.S. crude moving
further away from a two-month high after OPEC agreed to increase output curbs in
early 2020 but failed to promise further steps after March.
* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.7% on Thursday due to a 9% plunge in
Glencore after news of a bribery investigation and as dollar earners fell with
sterling gaining on growing hopes that the upcoming election will not result in
a hung parliament.
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Berkeley Group Holdings Plc HY earnings release
Weir Group Plc Capital Markets Day
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines
(Reporting by Samantha Machado in Bengaluru)
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