(Adds futures, news items)
April 9 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen
opening 3 points higher at 6,945 points on Friday, according to
financial bookmakers, with futures .FFIc1 up 0.3% ahead of the
cash market open.
* PAGEGROUP: PageGroup PAGE.L reported higher
first-quarter gross profit, with a growth of 31% in March,
helped by improvements in hiring in its EMEA and Asia-Pacific
regions. * BOOHOO: Boohoo BOOH.L said it had taken a long-term
lease for a new warehouse in the English town of Daventry, as
the group looks to expand and add capacity to its existing
facilities. * FRASERS: Frasers said it will book a non-cash charge,
which could be in excess of 200 million pounds ($274 million),
in its 2020-21 results to account for impairment of its assets
during the latest COVID-19 lockdown. * RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto RIO.AX said it has reached a
binding agreement with Turquoise Hill Resources TRQ.TO to
update funding plans for the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine
in Mongolia. * ASTRAZENECA: Hong Kong said on Friday it will delay
shipments of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)'s AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine this year
amid mounting concerns over possible links between the shot and
very rare cases of blood clots. * HSBC: HSBC HSBA.L and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
will provide a combined $300 million in financing to help Asia's
supply chains boost manufacturing capacity for COVID-19
vaccines, the two lenders said on Friday. * WIZZ AIR: Wizz Air WIZZ.L has replaced its flight
operations chief after he was apparently recorded telling his
team to draw up a redundancy list of pilots who were often sick
or "caused grief" while sparing cheaper contract crew.
* ASTRAZENECA: The Dutch government will limit use of the
AstraZeneca AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine to people above age 60
following rare cases of blood clots, Health Minister Hugo de
Jonge said on Thursday. * ASTRAZENECA: Australia and the Philippines limited use of
AstraZeneca's AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, while the
African Union dropped plans to buy the shot amid global
shortages, dealing further blows to the company's hopes to
deliver a vaccine for the world. * GOLD: Gold prices fell on Friday as robust economic data
from China boosted hopes of a swift recovery, although bullion
was set to rise more than 1% on the week as the U.S. dollar and
Treasury yields pulled back from recent highs. * OIL: Oil prices edged up in early Asian trade on Friday,
supported by a weaker dollar, as investors weighed rising
supplies and the impact on fuel demand from the COVID-19
pandemic. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 0.8% on Thursday
as heavyweight mining stocks tracked rising metal prices
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