Gold prices hold sharp gains as soft US jobs data fuels Fed rate cut bets
Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 52 points higher at 6,148 on
Monday, according to financial bookmakers.
* PRIMARK: Primark, the fashion retailer owned by AB Foods ABF.L , said it
would not take advantage of a British government scheme to pay employers for
bringing back staff from furlough. * INVESTMENT: Britain will spend 705 million pounds on border infrastructure
to help keep trade flowing after its transition deal with the European Union
expires. * FINANCE: British finance minister Rishi Sunak is preparing to introduce
sweeping tax cuts and an overhaul of planning laws in up to 10 new "freeports"
within a year of the UK's becoming fully independent. * OFFICE WORK: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell employers next
week to start ordering staff back into their places of work. * HUAWEI: Huawei Technologies HWT.UL has requested a meeting with UK Prime
Minister Boris Johnson to work out a deal to delay its potential removal from
the country's 5G phone network. * ECONOMY: Britain will suffer the sharpest peak-to-trough economic slump of
any major economy this year. * G4S: G4S GFS.L said on Friday it had agreed to pay 44.4 million pounds
to the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to avert criminal charges. * VACCINE SCHEME: Britain has turned down the chance to join a 2.4 billion
euro European Union plan to secure advance purchases of promising COVID-19
vaccines. * OIL: Oil slipped in early Asian trade as traders eyed an OPEC technical
meeting this week which is expected to recommend an easing in supply
cuts. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed about 0.8% higher on Friday, propped
up by a rebound in heavyweight financial stocks. UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Centamin CEY.L Q2 report
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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