Dec 12 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 18 points at 6,972 on Monday, according to financial bookmakers.
* The UK blue chip index closed 0.3 percent higher on Friday at 6,954.21, recording its biggest weekly rise in five months, as it received a boost when Sky SKYB.L shares surged by more than 25 percent on a takeover approach from Twenty-First Century Fox FOXA.O . SKY: A major shareholder in British pay-TV company Sky will vote against Twenty-First Century Fox's $14 billion takeover bid, the investor told Reuters on Sunday, while another said it is unhappy about the offer. according to opposition politicians, Rupert Murdoch's new takeover approach for Sky should be investigated by the UK's competition authorities, though analysts said a deal should be easier to get through this time round. ASTRAZENECA: AstraZeneca's AZN.L immunotherapy drug durvalumab, the British drugmaker's most important pipeline medicine, has been accepted for review by U.S. regulators against bladder cancer, potentially its first use. IPF: Consumer credit lender International Personal Finance Plc IPF.L said on Friday it was assessing the hit on its profit from Poland's proposed rules to cap non-interest costs on consumer loans. FX MARKET: Hedge funds and speculative investors have pulled back from the $5 trillion a day global currency market and less risk-taking by banks as well as reduced trading on multi-player platforms is a risk to future financial stability, the Bank of International Settlements said on Sunday. UK ECONOMIC GROWTH: The British Chambers of Commerce nudged up its forecast for economic growth next year but downgraded the outlook for 2018 due to inflation pressures and ongoing uncertainty as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, it said on Monday. UK HOME SALES: Buoyant property sales in England and Wales in November show that the housing market has steadied after Britain's decision to leave the European Union and asking prices for homes look set to rise by 2 percent next year, property data firm Rightmove said. UK RETAIL SALES: Britain's retailers enjoyed their strongest monthly sales growth for 14 months in November, helped by a return to growth in the fashion sector for the first time since January, industry data showed on Saturday. UK RATING: Fitch Ratings affirmed the United Kingdom's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at 'AA', citing the sterling's international reserve currency status among others. BREXIT: Opponents to Britain leaving the European Union will launch a fresh legal action this week, which could further hamper Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plans, The Sunday Times reported. BREXIT: The European Parliament's Brexit negotiator will propose that Britons can have "associate citizenship" of the EU once their country leaves, but senior officials have dismissed the idea as an unworkable gimmick. BREXIT: Two major companies have contacted Paris authorities to discuss setting up offices with several thousand square meters of floorspace as they seek ways to keep an EU base after Brexit, officials in the French capital's municipality said. UK/SAUDI ARABIA: British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson reiterated Britain's close ties to Saudi Arabia on a visit on Sunday and said candour was also important, days after making comments widely seen as critical of the conservative Gulf Arab country. OIL: Oil prices shot to their highest levels since mid-2015 on Monday after OPEC and other producers reached their first deal since 2001 to jointly reduce output in order to rein in oversupply and prop up markets. METALS: Copper futures edged higher on Monday, building on last week's strong Chinese economic figures, and bullish outlook by banks and analysts. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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