AV.L Share News (AV)

March 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening flat onThursday, according to financial bookmakers. * UK-RECRUITERS: British recruiters reported a slowdown in their clients'demand for staff during February, though pay rates and appetite for new workerscontinue to grow quickly. * OIL: Oil prices steadied on Thursday, supported by healthy demand, afterfalling the previous day on the back of record U.S. crude production and risinginventories. * GOLD: Gold prices held steady on Thursday as investors awaited moredetails on U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed steel and aluminium tariffs,the outcome of the European Central Bank's policy meeting, and U.S. jobs data. * EX-DIVS: BHP Billiton, Evraz, Land Securities,Persimmon, Shire, Standard Chartered will tradewithout entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 8.31points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. * The UK blue chip index closed up 0.16 percent at 7,157.84 points onWednesday, as a rally in engine maker Rolls Royce and gains among industrialsmore than offset weakness among commodity stocks. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets * UK CORPORATE DIARY: ATTRAQT Group Full Year 2017 Earnings Spirent Communications Full Year 2017 Earnings Capital & Regional Full Year 2017 Earnings Domino's Pizza Group Full Year 2017 Earnings G4S Full Year 2017 Earnings Premier Oil Full Year 2017 Earnings Aviva Full Year 2017 Earnings Countrywide Full Year 2017 Earnings TODAY'S UK PAPERS > Financial Times > Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com * For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com (Reporting by Justin George Varghese)