UK : Factors to watch on 02 Dec 2016
* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.5 percent on Thursday at 6,752.93, pulled down by more evidence of the weak pound damaging consumer goods companies and by some stocks trading without rights to their latest dividend payouts.* BERKELEY: London-focussed housebuilder Berkeley said the number of reservations fell 20 percent in the first half of their financial year due to an increase in property tax and the uncertainty created by the Brexit vote.* TALKTALK: A cyber attack on Britain’s Talktalk Telecom Group Plc broadband affected “a small number of customer routers” on Thursday, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
* BP: Oil major BP has approved a $ 9-billion investment in its Mad Dog project in the Gulf of Mexico, its first major new platform in the region since a 2010 explosion at its Macondo well led to the worst offshore disaster in U.S. history.
* BHP BILLITON: Vale SA, the world’s top iron ore producer, said a judge was soon to ratify a settlement with the Brazilian government regarding its Samarco iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton.
* LIDL: Discount supermarket Lidl plans to spend 70 million pounds ($ 89 million) building a new distribution centre in Britain next year, it said on Friday, showing its appetite for investment has not been diminished by the Brexit vote.
* STANDARD CHARTERED: Singapore’s central bank said on Friday it imposed penalties on the local units of Standard Chartered Bank and Coutts for money laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund.
* BREXIT: Britain would consider making payments to the European Union after it leaves to achieve the best possible access for businesses to the bloc’s markets, Brexit minister David Davis said on Thursday.
* COPPER: Copper eased on Friday as traders unwound speculative positions on doubts that the post U.S. election rally has much further to run, although losses were kept in check by firmer oil prices and signs of global industrial growth.
* OIL: Oil prices slipped on Friday as some investors opted to cash out after Brent touched 16-month a high on Thursday, with optimism over this week’s OPEC-Russia accord on cutting output giving way to questions on the “sticking point” of implementing the deal.
