Aug 1 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is expected to open 9
points higher at 7,596 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.
* PEARSON: British education company Pearson Plc PSON.L on Thursday said
it has notified customers of a data breach that resulted in unauthorized access
to about 13,000 school and university accounts, mainly in the United States.
* STANDARD CHARTERED: Standard Chartered PLC STAN.L exceeded forecasts
with a 3% increase in its first-half profit, but flagged trade tensions and a
monetary policy easing cycle as potential risks for the London-headquartered
lender. * WOODFORD: Neil Woodford's suspended Equity Income Fund has breached a 10%
cap on unlisted stocks after three of its holdings stopped trading on the
Guernsey exchange, though a spokesman said it was taking action to remedy the
situation. * OIL: Oil prices skidded on Thursday, declining for the first time in six
days, after the U.S. Federal Reserve dampened hopes for a string of interest
rate cuts and Sino-U.S. talks ended without apparent progress towards resolving
a bitter trade dispute. * GOLD: Gold prices dropped to two-week lows on Thursday after the U.S.
Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points as expected but tampered market
expectations of a lengthy easing cycle, lifting the dollar to a two-year high.
* EX-DIVS: RELX REL.L will trade without entitlement to its latest
dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 1.02 points off the FTSE 100 according to
Reuters calculations
* London's FTSE 100 slipped on Wednesday from this week's 11-month high, as
wealth manager St. James's Place, homebuilder Taylor Wimpey and mortgage lender
Lloyds fell on the back of results, overshadowing an upbeat forecast from
clothing retailer Next. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Portmeirion Group PMGR.L Half Year Earnings Release
Mondi MNDI.L Half Year Earnings Release
Eurocell ECEL.L Half Year Earnings Release
RSA Insurance Group RSA.L Half Year Earnings Release
Spirent Communications SPT.L Half Year Earnings Release
Schroders SDR.L Half Year Earnings Release
RPS Group RPS.L Half Year Earnings Release
Merlin Entertainments MERL.L Half Year Earnings Release
Barclays BARC.L Half Year Earnings Release
British American Tobacco BATS.L Half Year Earnings Release
Intertek Group ITRK.L Half Year Earnings Release
London Stock Exchange Group LSE.L Interim Earnings Release
Coats Group COA.L Half Year Earnings Release
Capita CPI.L Half Year Earnings Release
ConvaTec Group CTEC.L Half Year Earnings Release
Rio Tinto RIO.L Half Year Earnings Release
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
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