UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Tuesday, June 12
12/06/2012 at 06:55
* Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening steady to lower on Tuesday, after a relief rally ran out of steam in the previous session as a Spanish bank rescue plan failed to calm concerns about the euro zone.
* Futures for the index were broadly steady at 0622 GMT. Earlier, financial bookmakers had forecast the benchmark would open down 4 to 10 points, or as much as 0.2 percent. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on
* The UK blue chip index closed down 2.71 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,432.37 on Monday, having earlier jumped to a session peak of 5,536.27 after euro zone finance ministers agreed to lend Madrid up to 100 billion euros $125 billion following months of nervousness in financial markets.
* Wall Street and Tokyo fell overnight.
* Technical charts point to more weakness on the FTSE, with the formation of a "gravestone doji" on Monday, as the session closed virtually at the same level at which it had opened, erasing earlier gains.
* Britain's heavyweight energy companies may be hurt by a tumble in oil prices after top exporter Saudi Arabia said OPEC may need to raise oil output targets at its Thursday meeting in Vienna.
* There was mixed news for the real estate and construction sectors, with the RICS survey showing British house prices falling at a slower pace in May, although the outlook worsened as the euro zone crisis intensified and sales took a temporary hit from the expiry of a tax holiday.
* Tuesday's diary features UK industrial output data for April at 0830 GMT as well as speeches from several policy makers including IMF chief Christine Lagarde. No UK blue chips are expected to report results, with the corporate newsflow in a relative lull between the second and third quarter earnings seasons.
* LSE - The chief financial officer of the London Stock Exchange Group Plc, Doug Webb, is standing down and will be replaced by David Warren, who formerly held the same post at Nasdaq OMX .
* BP - The oil major's 405,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana, returned a 75,000 bpd crude distillation unit to service over the weekend, sources familiar with refinery operations said.
* GlaxoSmithKline - GSK's unit Stiefel buys eczema drug Toctino from Basilea for an initial payment of 146 million sterling.
* RBS - Royal Bank of Scotland has warned more than 48,000 staff that if they want to retire with a full pension at 60 they will have to start making contributions, The Guardian reports.
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines
Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for:
* 3000 Xtra : visit
* BridgeStation: view story .134
For more information on Top News visit
Reporting By Toni Vorobyova; editing by Stephen Nisbet
antonina.vorobyova@thomsonreuters.com+44 207 542 9828Reuters Messaging: antonina.vorobyova@thomsonreuters.com
Keywords: MARKETS BRITAIN FACTORS