(Adds futures, company news items?)
June 9 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 6 points
higher at 6,478 on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures up
0.02% ahead of cash markets open.
* BELLWAY: British housebuilder Bellway Plc BWY.L said on Tuesday it sold
fewer homes between August and May, as business activity remained restricted
after it closed its centres due to the coronavirus lockdown. * BAT: British American Tobacco BATS.L cut its annual adjusted profit and
revenue forecasts on Tuesday, citing the impact of prolonged lockdowns in South
Africa and Mexico and a bigger sales hit in countries including Bangladesh and
Vietnam. * BARCLAYS: British businesswoman Amanda Staveley's private equity firm told
London's High Court on Monday it had received a "substantially worse" deal than
Qatar when its syndicate invested billions of pounds in Barclays BARC.L during
the financial crisis in 2008. * SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSa.L said it will restart drilling and
begin redeploying some non-essential personnel on some of its offshore assets in
the Gulf of Mexico on Monday and Tuesday as conditions improve following
tropical storm Cristobal. * ASTRAZENECA: A merger between AstraZeneca AZN.L and Gilead Sciences Inc
GILD.O is unlikely due to significant political hurdles, Wall Street analysts
said on Monday after a Bloomberg report that the British drugmaker last month
had contacted its U.S. rival about a deal. * OIL: Oil prices climbed as the easing of coronavirus lockdown measures
across the globe lifted trader hopes for a swift recovery in demand, though
gains were capped by the spectre of persistent oversupply in the market.
* GOLD: Gold prices rose as the U.S. dollar hovered near a three-month low
and amid fears of a deep economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis, while
investors focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting for clues on policy
measures. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed 0.2% lower on Monday, after a series
of strong sessions as heavyweight AstraZeneca slipped on a report that it had
approached Gilead Sciences for a merger, while broader concerns over corporate
debt also weighed. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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