(Adds company news items and futures)
July 6 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 26 points higher at 7,630 on Friday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.44 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* ROLLS-ROYCE: Rolls-Royce Holdings RR.L said it would sell its loss-making commercial marine business to Kongsberg Gruppen ASA KOG.OL for an enterprise value of 500 million pounds ($661 million), in the latest reshaping of the engineering company by CEO Warren East. BCA MARKETPLACE: Apax Partners does not intend to make further offers for UK used car auctioneer BCA Marketplace BCA.L after the WeBuyAnyCar owner rejected two acquisition proposals, the companies said in separate statements on Friday. INMARSAT-ECHOSTAR: U.S. satellite group EchoStar SATS.O said on Friday it was trying to seek engagement with the board of Inmarsat ISA.L after the British firm rejected its latest takeover offer worth 2.45 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) to equity shareholders. STOBART: Stobart Group STOB.L finance chief Richard Laycock has decided to step down, the infrastructure and support services firm said on Friday, the latest in a series of changes in company leadership. BHP BILLITON: Negotiations between workers and BHP Billiton Plc BLT.L at the Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest, are "far from reaching agreement" with less than three weeks to go before the negotiation deadline, a union official told Reuters on Thursday. SHELL: Three contract workers were injured on Wednesday while working on a hydrogen line on a sulfur unit at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's RDSa.L Convent, Louisiana, refinery, a company spokesman said on Thursday. GOLD: Gold prices nudged lower amid a steady dollar on Friday, with investors bracing for any impact on global markets from a deepening trade conflict between the United States and China. OIL: Oil prices dipped on Friday in a nervous market ahead of a raft of import tariffs expected to be imposed later in the day by the world's two biggest economies, the United States and China. The UK blue chip FTSE 100 .FTSE index closed up 0.4 percent at 7,603.22 points on Thursday, as signs of an easing in the trade dispute between the United States and the European Union helped push the index up with gains in basic materials and energy stocks, while shares in AB Foods (LON:ABF) fell after a trading update. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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