March 27 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 17 points at 7,294 on Monday, according to financial bookmakers.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSa.L and Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE:APC) APC.N may let a 10-year joint venture in the oil-rich Permian Basin of Texas expire and split their properties, hoping to speed up development, according to a senior Shell executive. BT: UK's Office of Communications said BT Group Plc BT.L would be fined 42 million pounds for breaching contracts with telecoms providers. BARCLAYS: British bank Barclays PLC's BARC.L , credit-card issuer unit, Barclaycard sells $1.6 billion in risky credit-card balances to Credit Shop, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. BHP BILLITON: The end of a historic strike at Chile's Escondida copper mine, the world's biggest, has left its owner, BHP Billiton BLT.L , nursing an estimated $1 billion loss and probably in a weaker position for negotiations in a year or so, company and industry insiders said. BP: BP BP.L has made a gas discovery in the North Damietta Offshore Concession in Egypt's East Nile Delta, its third in the block, it said on Sunday. TESCO: Britain's biggest retailer Tesco TSCO.L is in advanced talks with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over a plea deal that would involve it paying a large fine over its 2014 profit overstatement, Sky news said on Saturday. SHELL: The head of a group helping organise Shell's RDSa.L clean-up efforts in an oil Delta community in Nigeria said on Friday he was hopeful clean-up work after two spills in 2008 could start in April. GLENCORE: Glencore GLEN.L said on Monday it was halting operations at its Collinsville and Newlands coal mines in Australia ahead of Cyclone Debbie's arrival in northern Queensland on Tuesday. BHP BILLITON: Mining giant BHP Billiton BLT.L said on Monday it was suspending operations at its South Walker Creek coal mine in Queensland with Cyclone Debbie expected to bear down on Australia on Tuesday close to the site. CO-OPERATIVE BANK: Britain's Co-operative Bank 42RQ.L said on Friday its ongoing sales process has drawn interest from multiple bidders after the ailing British lender put itself up for sale in February. HURRICANE ENERGY: Hurricane Energy HUR.L has made further oil discovery west of the Shetland Islands, the Financial Times reported. ACACIA MINING: Acacia Mining ACAA.L is losing more than $1 million in revenue each day at two mines in Tanzania because of the country's ban on exports of gold and copper concentrates, the London-listed company said on Friday. BREXIT: Britain's manufacturers told Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday to drop her threat that she might take the country out of the European Union without a new trade deal, saying they would bear the brunt of trade barriers with the EU. BREXIT: Thousands of people marched through London on Saturday to protest against Britain leaving the European Union, just four days before Prime Minister Theresa May launches the start of the formal divorce process from the bloc it joined 44 years ago. OIL: Oil prices dipped on Monday as rising U.S. drilling activity outweighed talks that an OPEC-led production cut initially due to end in mid-2017 may be extended. The UK blue chip FTSE 100 .FTSE index closed 0.1 percent lower at 7,336.82 points on Friday, ahead of a delayed U.S. vote on a key healthcare bill, though gains among Smiths Group SMIN.L and Provident Financial PFG.L capped losses. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Spaceandpeople
Full Year 2016 Inspired Energy INSEI.L Full Year 2016
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines
PRESS/GB 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