UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 16

March 16 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 7points lower at 7,133 on Friday, according to financial bookmakers, with futuresdown 0.12 percent ahead of the cash market open.

* BERKELEY: London-focussed housebuilder Berkeley said it cannotfurther increase its volumes above current plans due to the planning constraintsand government changes in recent years which have made buying a property to rentless attractive.

* J D WETHERSPOON: British pubs group J D Wetherspoon posted a 3.6percent rise in first-half revenue, but said it expects lower comparable salesgrowth and higher costs in the remainder of the year.

* MITIE GROUP: British outsourcing company Mitie Group said onFriday it expected annual costs associated with its turnaround programme to behigher than its previous estimates.

* SHELL: Amnesty International on Friday accused international oil majorsShell and Eni of negligence when addressing spills inNigeria.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is selling its upstream assets in NewZealand to Austria's OMV AG for $578 million, the companies said onThursday.

* BP: BP is seeking buyers for its stake in a 50-year-old oil and gasbusiness in Egypt as it focuses on newer deepwater gas fields off the country'sMediterranean coast, banking sources said.

* NEX GROUP: Britain's NEX Group Plc said it had received apreliminary takeover approach from U.S.-based exchange operator CME Group, in a move to create a cross-border trading powerhouse.

* CMC MARKETS Online trading platform CMC Markets Plc said onThursday it had launched contracts for differences (CFDs) and spreadbettingofferings for cryptocurrencies following significant interest from itsusers.

* GOLD: Gold prices held firm on Friday as tensions between the UnitedKingdom and Russia and renewed U.S. political concerns offset worries about apossible U.S. rate hike next week.

* OIL: Oil prices were set to fall this week, with both benchmarks droppingslightly on Friday, on concerns among investors about rising supply from theU.S. and other nations threatening to undermine efforts by OPEC and otherproducers to tighten the market.

* The UK blue chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.1 percent at 7,139.76points on Thursday, after a three-day losing streak as Britain's third-biggestcompany, Unilever, fell after announcing it would make Rotterdam its sole legalhome a year before Brexit.

* 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 Siju Varghese)