UK Market News

Friday July 3, 07:12 AM
Glance-European Factors -- Shares set for flat open

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - European shares are set to open flat on Friday, following a sharp fall in the previous session, and with trading set to be subdued as U.S. markets are closed for a holiday. Financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 to open between 4 points higher and 5 points lower, Germany's DAX (Xetra: news) to open between 4 points higher and 4 points lower, and France's CAC to open between 3 and 6 points lower. On Thursday, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European fell 2.6 percent to 843.0 points. The European benchmark index is still up more than 30 percent from its lifetime low of March 9, but the rally has stalled in recent weeks on lack of evidence of economic recovery. Data released on Thursday showed the unemployment rate in both the United States and the 16-nation euro zone rising to 9.5 percent. With a thin corporate diary on Friday, investors will focus attention on retail sales for the euro zone in May, due at 0900 GMT. Markets may lack direction, with the United States exchanges closed on Friday ahead of Independence Day. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0546 GMT---------------------- LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 896.42 -2.91 % -26.91 NIKKEI (news) 9,804.72 -0.72 % -71.43 MSCI ASIA EX-JP 388.63 -0.24 % -0.95 EUR/USD 1.3997 0.46 % 0.0064 USD/JPY 95.97 0.03 % 0.0300 10-YR US TSY YLD 3.502 -- 0.00 10-YR BUND YLD 3.324 -- 0.00 SPOT GOLD $933.15 0.48 % $4.50 US CRUDE $66.74 0.01 % 0.01 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * US STOCKS-Bleak payrolls report mauls Wall St * GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks slip * TREASURIES-Bonds gain after payrolls data * PRECIOUS-Gold rises as dollar eyed * Nikkei drops 1 pct after US jobs data * METALS-Copper edges lower on data * Oil falls towards $66 after U.S. jobs data * Euro off lows as market seeks direction COMPANY ITEMS FRANCE TELECOM (Paris: FR0000133308 - news) France Telecom Chief Financial Officer Gervais Pellissier told Reuters on the fringe of the Paris Europlace financial forum that it was not interested in buying the T-Mobile UK division of Deutsche Telekom (Xetra: 555750 - news) and that its $2.5 billion notes issue was designed to repay debt and not for major acquisitions. RIO TINTO (LSE: RIO.L - news) Underwriters to global miner Rio Tinto rights issue have sold the Australian 'rump' at A$48.50 each, a 6.3 percent discount to Rio's last traded price, Rio said in a statement on Friday. AREVA French nuclear reactor group Areva (Paris: FR0004275832 - news) will sell its T&D India business along with its overall power transmission and distribution (T&D) division, an Areva spokeswoman said. SIEMENS Siemens Industry Solutions sees the decline in new orders slowing, division head Jens Michael Wegmann told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Related news E.ON E.ON is considering cutting up to 300 of 1,900 administrative jobs, labour sources close to the company told Reuters. Related news SAP U.S. peer Oracle Corp plans to lay off up to 1,000 workers in Europe, or about 1 percent of its global staff, French news agency AFP reported. An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment. Related news VOLKSWAGEN (Xetra: 766400 - news) Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL) and Volkswagen have reached a compromise over VW's demand to pull out of their partnership in Dead Sea Magnesium, the Israeli company said. VW will stream $30 million to the troubled magnesium plant and transfer its 35 percent stake in the company to ICL, which owns the other 65 percent. Related news DEUTSCHE BOERSE (Xetra: 581005 - news) The European Commission will publish on Friday its policy proposals on how to make the EU's derivatives market safer, with a focus on centrally clearing trades, a senior official said. Related news HOCHTIEF The Panama Canal Authority will open bids for the largest contract in the canal's $5.25 billion expansion on July 8. A winner will not be immediately announced as the authority intends to vet the bids for several weeks. Hochtief is part of one of the three bidding groups. Related news GERMAN BAD BANKS The Bundestag lower house of parliament is due to vote on the plan to establish 'bad banks' allowing lenders to shift billions of euros of troubled assets off their books. BALFOUR BEATTY (LSE: BBY.L - news) The PFI specialist issues a first-half trading update. VEOLIA Veolia won a deal worth more than $1 billion with Iraq to repair eastern Bagdad's water supply system, but the contract has yet to be finalised, the head of the French utility told Reuters. EDF A Maryland judge ruled on Thursday that Constellation Energy Group must wait to file an appeal to speed up the sale of about half its nuclear assets to EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) until after state regulators have vetted the $4.5 billion deal. EADS (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) Airbus rival Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) said on Thursday that 17 orders for its commercial aircraft were cancelled in the last week, including a previously reported cancellation of 15 of its delayed Dreamliner 787. BHP BILLION The world's biggest miner, has agreed to sell its Yabulu nickel refinery to Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer for an undisclosed amount, BHP (LSE: BLT.L - news) said in a statement on Friday. BRITISH AIRWAYS (LSE: BAY.L - news) The airline delivers June passenger traffic numbers. TESCO (LSE: TSCO.L - news) The retailer hosts its annual general meeting. (Reporting by Brian Gorman) Keywords: MARKETS EUROPE FACTORS