(Updates futures, adds company news item)
Nov 18 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 2 points on Friday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.28 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* The UK blue chip index closed 0.7 percent higher on Thursday, helped by gains among mining firms. NATIONWIDE: Nationwide Building Society POB_p.L reported a 23 percent fall in first-half profit on Friday as persistently low interest rates bit into returns from its principal mortgage lending business. RIO TINTO: The government of Guinea has called on Rio Tinto RIO.AX RIO.L to spell out what exactly it has discovered in an internal investigation into payments made to an adviser in Guinea who helped it secure ownership of the Simandou project. GKN: British engineer GKN Plc GKN.L said on Thursday it would close its GKN Yeovil helicopter factory in Somerset at the end of 2017 and cut several jobs at the site. ANGLO AMERICAN: Global miner Anglo American AAL.L said on Thursday that its Los Bronces copper mine in Chile is in the process of restarting normal operations after it halted activities there on Wednesday when protesters seized installations. MAIL.RU: Russian internet company Mail.ru MAILRq.L is a "natural" business partner for mobile operator Megafon MFON.MM but there are no plans for an outright merger, Mail.ru Chief Financial Officer Matthew Hammond said on Thursday. BAT: Leading British investor Neil Woodford's fund firm said on Thursday it backed a takeover of Reynolds American RAI.N by British American Tobacco BATS.L , calling the tie-up "inevitable". TESCO: Britain's biggest retailer Tesco TSCO.L has warned its multi-national suppliers against pushing up prices following a drop in the pound just so they can maintain their reported profits. UK ASSET MANAGEMENT: Britain's financial regulator said price competition in the asset management sector is weak and profits high, proposing a "significant" package of remedies to improve competition. UK INVESTMENT: Deloitte will continue to invest in Britain and has no plans to withdraw, its global chairman told Reuters on Thursday, following media reports that the consultancy firm might move work if the post-Brexit stance on immigration were too tough. BREXIT: Scotland's Brexit negotiator said on Thursday it was still frustratingly unclear what kind of divorce the British government was seeking from the European Union, nearly five months after Britons voted in a referendum to leave. BREXIT: Britain cannot expect any special treatment on migration if it wants to remain part of the European Union's common market as part of its Brexit deal, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Financial Times. METALS: London copper futures dropped more than 1 percent on Friday as the dollar soared to a 13-1/2-year high against a basket of currencies after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled U.S. interest rates could rise "relatively soon." OIL: Oil prices fell in early trading on Friday as the strengthening U.S. dollar snuffed out rekindled hopes that OPEC might agree on production cuts. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines
PRESS/GB Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:
* 3000 Xtra
: visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com
* For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com