(Adds company news items and futures)
Sept 3 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 15
points higher at 7,297
on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.28%
ahead of the cash market open.
* LLOYDS BANKING: Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L has agreed to buy Tesco (LON:TSCO)
Bank's 3.7 billion pounds ($4.54 billion) UK residential mortgage portfolio, in
a move likely to consolidate its dominance of Britain's ultra-competitive market
for home loans. * FERGUSON: British plumbing products company Ferguson Plc FERG.L revealed
plans to separate its UK operations and said Chief Executive Officer John Martin
will step down in November this year. * IQE: IQE Plc IQE.L reported a first-half loss, months after it flagged
order delays at its wireless unit as U.S. restrictions on China's Huawei HWT.UL
hit the chip industry's supply chain. * GLENCORE: Global mining and trading giant Glencore GLEN.L has won a
dispute with Australia's Taxation Office after a judge found it had paid the
correct amount of tax on purchases of copper concentrate from a mine that it
owns in New South Wales state. * RETAIL SALES: British retailers saw their sales flat-line in August as
shoppers cut back on non-essentials and some households stockpiled food ahead of
Brexit, surveys showed. * BREXIT: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will move to call an Oct. 14
election if lawmakers block the option of leaving the European Union without a
deal, a senior government source said on Monday. * BREXIT: British finance minister Sajid Javid told representatives of the
country's financial services industry on Monday that the sector was a top
priority for him as the country prepares to leave the European Union, a person
familiar with the discussions said. * GOLD: Gold prices fell on the back of a firmer dollar, but fears of a
global economic slowdown fuelled by an intensifying U.S.-China trade war kept
prices near multi-year highs. * OIL: Oil prices were mixed as the ongoing U.S.-China trade war cast a pall
over markets, with soft South Korean data adding to concerns over emerging
markets and a rise in OPEC output. * London's FTSE 100 surged 1% on Monday, shrugging off news of the latest
U.S.-China trade tariffs, as exporter stocks firmed following a slide in
sterling on the prospect of an election against the backdrop of Brexit.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
LIVE/
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines PRESS/GB