April 24 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 80 points lower
at 5,746 on Friday, according to financial bookmakers.
* HISCOX: Hundreds of British businesses, shuttered by a government lockdown
to curb the coronavirus pandemic, have appointed lawyers to take on insurer
Hiscox HSX.L , saying its refusal to compensate them for losses was putting
their future at risk. * VODAFONE: Telecom Italia (TIM) TLIT.MI and Vodafone VOD.L have
completed the sale of an 8.6% combined stake in Italy's biggest mobile towers
company INWIT INWT.MI as part of efforts to cut debt, the companies said.
* ANGLO AMERICAN: Global miner Anglo American AAL.L on Thursday cut its
capital expenditure outlook for the year by about $1 billion and said it would
cut costs to weather the impact of the coronavirus. * GOLD: Gold eased as investors booked profits after a 1% rise in the
previous session, but weak economic data from the United States and Europe due
to the novel coronavirus kept bullion on track for a weekly gain. * OIL: Oil prices rose, gaining further ground as some producers like Kuwait
said they would move to cut output swiftly to try to counter the evaporation in
global demand for fuels caused by the pandemic. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 1% on Thursday, boosted by oil
majors Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L and BP BP.L as crude prices recovered from a
collapse earlier this week.
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Rotork Plc ROR.L Trading statement
Pearson Plc PSON.L Q1 2020 trading statement
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
LIVE/
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines PRESS/GB