UK Stocks-Factors to watch on May 4

By Reuters / May 04, 2017 / in.investing.com / Article Link

May 4 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 16 points higher on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.

* BHP: Australia warned on Thursday that a push by activist investor Elliott Management to ditch global miner BHP Billiton's BLT.L dual listing may be a criminal offence and could be subject to civil penalties. ROYAL BANK: Investor advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services has advised shareholders in Royal Bank of Scotland RBS.L to vote against its remuneration policy next week because it is unclear how bonuses will be paid out to senior directors. ROYAL DUTCH: Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSa.L resumed on Wednesday afternoon the restart of the heavy oil hydrocracker at its 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery, said a source familiar with plant operations. GLENCORE: Miner-trader Glencore Plc GLEN.L has hired the Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO to sell a portfolio of royalties, including a royalty on the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, four people familiar with the process told Reuters. OIL: Oil prices settled slightly higher on Wednesday after a choppy trading session as the market digested U.S. government data showing that while there were signs a crude glut may be receding, inventories remained large with gasoline demand weak. GOLD: Gold fell to a one-month low as the dollar firmed on Wednesday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged as expected and the market reduced expectations of a surprise win by France's far-right presidential candidate. COPPER: Copper tumbled 3.5 percent on Wednesday after hitting a three-week high in the previous session, as supply fears were eased by a large rise in stocks and worries over Chinese demand pulled down prices of steel and iron ore. EX-DIVS: Croda CRDA.L , InterContinental Hotels Group IHG.L , Kingfisher KGF.L , London Stock Exchange Group LSE.L , Unilever ULVR.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 3.1 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. The UK blue chip index closed down 0.2 percent at 7,234.53 points at its close on Wednesday, weighed down by weaker commodity stocks, while supermarket Sainsbury 's SBRY.L dropped after an underwhelming earnings update. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets