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April 26 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening up 9points on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures up0.05 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* BARCLAYS: Improved income at its investment bank helped Barclaysreport a better-than-expected first quarter pretax profit of 1.7 billion pounds($2.4 billion) on Thursday, although fines and legal costs from historicmisconduct issues led to a statutory loss.
* BP: BP on Thursday appointed Helge Lund, a former head of Norway'sStatoil, as its next chairman to replace Carl-Henric Svanberg, who hasheld the post for almost nine years.
* EVRAZ: Russian steelmaker Evraz said on Thursday itsfirst-quarter crude steel production fell by 9 percent year-on-year, to 3.4million tonnes, due to weather conditions interrupting iron ore supply andissues at several blast furnaces.
* SSE: Britain's competition watchdog said the planned merger of SSE'sretail power and gas business in the UK with Npower, owned by Germanrival Innogy, could lead to higher prices for customers and warrantsfurther scrutiny.
* ROYAL DUTCH SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported a 42percent rise in first-quarter profit, its highest in over three years, boostedby higher oil prices and production.
* DOMINO'S PIZZA: Britain's biggest pizza delivery firm Domino's Pizza Groupsaid first-quarter sales were up 18.3 percent as strong trading aroundNew Year and Easter period helped offset the impact of unusually colder weather.
* HASTINGS: British insurer Hastings Group Holdings Plc reported onThursday a 12 percent jump in first-quarter net revenue, buoyed by an increasein customer base and market share.
* BARCLAYS: UK Asset Resolution, the British 'bad bank' set up to manage theassets of two failed lenders, has sold two portfolios of residential mortgagesto an investor group led by Barclays, boosting the public purse by 5.3billion pounds ($7.39 billion).
* PERSIMMON: Persimmon shareholders voted narrowly in favour of thehousebuilder's controversial pay scheme for senior bosses at the British firm'sannual general meeting on Wednesday.
* BARCLAYS: British bank Barclays and digital payments firm PayPalhave announced a partnership that will see them explore ways to combinetheir services for customers
* STANDARD CHARTERED: Standard Chartered Plc's compliance head NeilBarry is under investigation by the bank pertaining to allegations ofmisconduct, Bloomberg reported.
* UK-AUTOS: Carmakers operating in Britain reported a fall of more than 6percent in production in the first three months of 2018 as the industry frettedabout the future of diesel vehicles and export prospects after Brexit.
* GOLD: Gold prices on Thursday were little changed after falling to theirlowest in five weeks in the previous session, pressured by a stronger dollar,which held near more than three-month highs, and a rise in U.S. Treasury yields.
* OIL: Oil prices rose on Thursday, supported by an expectation that theUnited States will re-impose sanctions against Iran, a decline in output inVenezuela and ongoing strong demand.
* EX-DIVS: Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Glencore,Legal & General, Relx will trade without entitlement to theirlatest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 7.44 points off the FTSE 100according to Reuters calculations
* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.62 percent at 7,379.32 points onWednesday, after a £64 billion bid for drug maker Shire and a fresh £22 billionoffer for Sky failed to lift the UK stock market as worries about rising U.S.bond yields and corporate costs continued to weigh on global markets.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlinesMultimedia 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)
