(Adds company news items and futures)
May 21 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen
opening 33 points lower on Thursday, according to financial
bookmakers with futures down 0.6% ahead of cash markets open.
* SHELL: Shell has evacuated its foreign staff, numbering
around 60, from Iraq's Basra Gas Co and flew them out of Iraq on
Wednesday, two Basra Gas executives told Reuters. * EASYJET: British low-cost airline easyJet EZJ.L said it
would restart a small number of flights on June 15, becoming the
latest airline to plan for the return of European travel by
making face masks mandatory onboard. * AVIVA: British insurer Aviva AV.L posted a sharp rise in
first-quarter new sales in its life business on Thursday,
boosted by bulk annuities, but estimated 160 million pounds
($195.1 million) in claims related to the coronavirus pandemic.
* ASTRAZENECA: AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L said on Thursday it
had received the first agreements to supply at least 400 million
doses of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with the
University of Oxford. * BOE: Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he was
less opposed to negative interest rates than before the
coronavirus crisis escalated, but that there were "mixed
reviews" about how well they had worked for other central banks.
* METALS: Copper prices rose, with London copper hitting a
more than two-month high, as hopes of a swift recovery in the
global economy pushed equities higher and boosted risk
sentiment. * GOLD: Gold fell, pressured by hopes of a swift recovery
from the coronavirus-driven recession although losses were
capped by prospects of more stimulus and bleak data.
* OIL: Oil prices advanced as a drawdown of U.S. crude
inventories and output cuts by major producers helped ease
concerns about a supply glut, though lingering fears over the
global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic capped gains.
* London's FTSE 100 index rose on Wednesday, rebounding from
an early fall partly thanks to solid quarterly results from data
firm Experian, while investors remained hopeful of a recovery
after the looming new coronavirus-induced recession.
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