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UK Stocks - Factors to watch on Dec 8

Source: Reuters - Tue 8th Dec 2009

Britain's FTSE 100 is seen opening flat to slightly lower on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with the session expected to be choppy after a mixed close on Wall Street overnight and weakness in Asian equities, and with a lack of much fresh for direction.

The blue chip index is seen opening between 2 and 6 points lower, after closing down 0.2 percent on Monday at 5,310.66 points.

Investors are seen staying on the sidelines ahead of the UK's pre-budget report on Wednesday and the Bank of England's policy meeting on Thursday, which should give fresh direction to equities. Volumes are expected to remain thin as investors gear up for the Christmas holiday period.

Shares in Japan and the rest of Asia fell, while overnight on Wall Street the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended slightly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average flat after comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sparked jitters about the economic recovery.

He said the U.S. economy's recovery remained fragile and unemployment could remain elevated for some time, cooling anticipation of an early increase in U.S.interest rates.

The comments caused the dollar to reverse recent gains, as it fell against a basket of currencies after hitting a five-week high in the previous session.

On the economic front, British industrial production and manufacturing output numbers for October are expected at 0930 GMT.

Economists polled by Reuters expect manufacturing output to rise 0.4 percent after gaining 1.7 percent in September, helped by a competitive pound and global economic recovery.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI)'s industrial trends report for December is due at 1100 GMT, with analysts expecting a further modest improvement to -43 from -45 in November.

Meanwhile, British retail sales values rose at their slowest annual pacelast month since August, held back by food sales where a fall in inflation ledto their weakest performance in more than two years, a British Retail Consortium survey showed.

British firms plan to stop laying off staff in early 2010 for the first timein more than a year, but only finance firms and utility companies plan to increase hiring, according to recruitment firm Manpower.

* GLOBAL MARKETS-Dlr dips on Bernanke comments, shares fall

* US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq end down as banks, tech weigh

* Dollar falls as Fed curbs rate hike talk; yen gains

* TREASURIES-Inch up in Asia, 3-year auction awaited

* Oil edges up to $74 on soft dlr; sentiment weak

* PRECIOUS-Gold firms as dlr weakens after Fed comments

* METALS-Copper steady after Bernanke comment, stocks weigh

UK stocks to watch on Tuesday are:

TESCO

The retailer releases a trading update.

BANKS

State-controlled Dubai World is discussing with its bank creditors a new date for $3.5 billion in debt maturing on Dec. 14, a Dubai newspaper reported, citing British bankers. London-listed Standard Chartered, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland are on the creditors panel.

Meanwhile, top investment banks are being lobbied by the UK government to pay tens of millions of pounds to a new lending initiative for credit-starved small businesses, the Financial Times said in its Tuesday edition.

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND, LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

The two lenders have been ordered to pay a combined 71 million pounds to the government in order to cover the legal and banking costs used to construct the giant insurance scheme for toxic assets, the Times newspaper reported.

BT GROUP

BT is believed to be holding talks with Google on a deal that would make Google's video content available on a digital delivery network which BT Wholesale is creating for British internet service providers, the Guardian newspaper reported.

NATIONAL EXPRESS

Dean Finch, chief executive of Tube Lines, has been offered the top job atNational Express, the Guardian newspaper reported.

DOMINO PRINTING SCIENCES

The printer supplier reports preliminary results.

GAME GROUP

The video game retailer releases a trading update.

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