(Adds futures, news items)
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 2 points
higher at 6,038 on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures
FFIc1 up 0.5% ahead of cash markets open.
* METRO BANK: Britain's Metro Bank MTRO.L swung to a 240 million pounds
($313.92 million) loss for the first half of the year, as provisions to cover
loan losses due to the coronavirus crisis wiped out its profits. * LEGAL & GENERAL: British life insurer Legal & General LGEN.L posted a 2%
drop in first-half operating profit. * COCA COLA HBC: Soft drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC AG CCH.L said its
performance recovered steadily from April lows as its markets gradually reopened
from coronavirus-led lockdowns. * BATS: British American Tobacco BATS.L named Guy Meldrum, the regional
director of its Asia-Pacific and Middle East business, as the new head of its
U.S. business, Reynolds American. * WILLIAM HILL: British gambling company William Hill WMH.L reported a
better-than-expected first-half profit while announcing 119 of UK betting shops
closed by coronavirus lockdowns would not reopen as it combines its online and
retail businesses. * HASTINGS: Finnish insurer Sampo SAMPO.HE and South Africa's Rand
Merchant Investment (RMI) RMIJ.J have made a recommended cash offer worth 1.84
billion euros ($2.17 billion) to buy British auto insurer Hastings HSTG.L ,
Sampo said. * BANKS: Britain's banks took a gloomier view than almost all their European
peers in their second quarter earnings. * OIL: Oil prices fell for the first time in four days, pulling back from as
much as five-month highs as mounting coronavirus cases worldwide and in the
United States undercut market confidence in a pickup in fuel demand. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE ended flat on Tuesday as mixed earnings and
rising friction between the United States and China weighed. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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