(Adds futures, news items)
April 23 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is
seen opening 27 points lower at 6,911 points on Friday,
according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 down
0.5% ahead of cash market open.
* FIRSTGROUP: FirstGroup Plc FGP.L agreed to sell its
North American school bus and bus contracting businesses to EQT
Infrastructure for $4.6 billion including debt, the UK-based
transport operator said . * RETAIL SALES: British retail sales rose by 5.4% in March
from February ahead of the re-opening of non-essential shops
this month, official data showed. * BORROWING: Britain's government borrowed 303.1 billion
pounds in the financial year which ended last month, as it
resorted to a huge surge in spending and tax cuts to offset the
economic hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. * CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate activists protested outside the
Lloyd's of London insurance market, dumping a load of fake coal
outside its headquarters as part of a campaign against insuring
fossil fuel mining. * ANGLO AMERICAN: Anglo American Plc AAL.L has not kept
workers fully informed of plans to restart a coal mine in
Queensland nearly a year after a blast injured five people, a
union official said, but the company called the comments
unfounded. * CONSUMER SENTIMENT: British consumer sentiment rose to its
highest since the start of the COVID pandemic this month as the
economy reopened partially, a closely watched survey showed, but
the increase was smaller than economists had expected.
* ASTRAZENECA: Australia's Minister for Trade has urged
AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) AZN.L to dispatch 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses
to Papua New Guinea amid concerns about the spread of the virus
there, saying the EU had pledged no hindrance to the exports.
* ASTRAZENECA: Britain's medicines regulator on Thursday
said there had been 168 major blood clots following a dose of
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, a rate of 7.9 clots per million
doses, a jump in incidence from the previous week's figure.
* ASTRAZENECA: The European Commission said on Wednesday no
decision had yet been taken on whether to launch legal action
against AstraZeneca, after Ireland's health minister said the
case had been initiated.
* PEARSON: Education group Pearson Plc PSON.L said on
Thursday Chairman Sidney Taurel intends to retire and step down
from the board no later than next year's annual general meeting.
* REGULATOR: Britain's financial regulator said on Thursday
it will rethink how consumers should be protected after a surge
in online scams since people were forced to work from home due
to COVID-19 restrictions. * OIL: Oil prices rose, buoyed by hopes demand will recover
as economic growth picks up and lockdowns ease, but worries
about India's surging second wave of COVID-19 cases limited
gains. * COPPER: Copper prices were on track for their third
straight week of gains, as a weaker dollar made greenback-priced
metals cheaper and more appealing to holders of other
currencies. * Britain's FTSE 100 ended higher on Thursday on higher
retail stocks as last week saw a jump in footfalls and a weaker
pound, while mid-caps rose to their best day in two weeks led by
gains in construction company Morgan Sindall. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please
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