(Updates futures, adds company news item)
Dec 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures FFIc1 were down 0.17 percent on Thursday ahead of the cash market open.
* The UK blue chip index .FTSE ended little changed on Wednesday after hitting a two-month high, though a rise in Ashtead Group AHT.L and bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic CCH.L provided support. The FTSE 100 was flat at 7,041.42 at its close. L&G: Insurer Legal & General Group Plc LGEN.L said it had named EY executive Jeff Davies its chief financial officer, with effect from the spring of 2017. SHELL: Oil major Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L is facing rising pressure from shareholders to shield its business from climate change threats and to play a bigger role in lowering global carbon emissions. RBS: Royal Bank of Scotland RBS.L is close to selling at least $600 million worth of shipping loans from its portfolio, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. STANDARD CHARTERED: The Thai unit of Standard Chartered STAN.L has agreed to transfer its retail banking business to TISCO Bank PCL and All-Ways Company, as the UK lender's chief executive, Bill Winters, continues with restructuring to boost earnings. LSE: Deutsche Boerse DB1Gn.DE is confident that it can win over European antitrust regulators for the planned merger with London Stock Exchange Group LSE.L , the German stock exchange operator's Chief Executive Carsten Kengeter told Handelsblatt and the Financial Times in a joint interview. TRADING REGULATION: Market participants who want to minimize the impact of sweeping new regulations on securities trading in Europe have more work to do in the last year before the changes take effect, London Stock Exchange said on Wednesday. The regulations take effect at the start of 2018, meaning traders have just over 12 months left to prepare. UK CAR PRODUCTION: Britain built more cars in the first eleven months of 2016 than any full year since 2004, data from an industry body showed on Thursday, putting the sector on course to make more vehicles this year than in any other since 1999. UK CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: British consumer confidence rose the first time in three months in December, boosted by a big rise in households' readiness to make major purchases, a GfK survey showed on Thursday.OIL: Oil prices slipped in tepid Asian trading on Thursday, dragged down by an unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories last week and moves by Libya to boost output over the next few months. METALS: London copper edged back towards one-month lows hit earlier this week on Thursday as the upcoming Christmas holidays drained markets of liquidity and direction. EX-DIVS: Burberry Group BRBY.L will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 0.18 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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