UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 16

    March 16 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 7
points lower at 7,133 on Friday, according to financial bookmakers.
    
    * SHELL: Amnesty International on Friday accused international oil majors
Shell and Eni of negligence when addressing spills in
Nigeria.
      Royal Dutch Shell Plc is selling its upstream assets in New
Zealand to Austria's OMV AG OMVV.VI for $578 million, the companies said on
Thursday.
    * BP: BP is seeking buyers for its stake in a 50-year-old oil and gas
business in Egypt as it focuses on newer deepwater gas fields off the country's
Mediterranean coast, banking sources said.
    *  NEX GROUP: Britain's NEX Group Plc said it had received a
preliminary takeover approach from U.S.-based exchange operator CME Group
, in a move to create a cross-border trading powerhouse.
    * CMC MARKETS Online trading platform CMC Markets Plc said on
Thursday it had launched contracts for differences (CFDs) and spreadbetting
offerings for cryptocurrencies following significant interest from its
users.
    * GOLD:  Gold prices held firm on Friday as tensions between the United
Kingdom and Russia and renewed U.S. political concerns offset worries about a
possible U.S. rate hike next week.
    * OIL:  Oil prices were set to fall this week, with both benchmarks dropping
slightly on Friday, on concerns among investors about rising supply from the
U.S. and other nations threatening to undermine efforts by OPEC and other
producers to tighten the market.
    * The UK blue chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.1 percent at 7,139.76
points on Thursday, after a three-day losing streak as Britain's third-biggest
company, Unilever, fell after announcing it would make Rotterdam its sole legal
home a year before Brexit.
    * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
    
    * UK CORPORATE DIARY:    
 Berkeley Group Holdings             Trading Statement Release
 J D Wetherspoon PLC                 Half Year 2018 Earnings Release
 Investec PLC                        Pre-Close Briefing
 Mitie Group PLC                     Full Year 2018 Trading Statement Release
   
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 (Reporting by Siju Varghese)