April 24 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 39 points at 7,153 on Monday, according to financial bookmakers.
* RIO TINTO: Freeport McMoRan Inc FCX.N collected a permit to resume copper exports from Indonesia on Friday after a hiatus of more than three months, hours after a state visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who discussed the copper miner's dispute with Jakarta. IPIC/1MDB: The Malaysian government on Saturday reached an agreement to pay Abu Dhabi $2.5 billion as partial debt settlement for embattled government fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd TERRN.UL according to a report by Bloomberg. (https://bloom.bg/2pnLNC6)
* BT: British Telecom BT.L has filed a criminal complaint with Italian prosecutors over an accounting scandal at its Italian unit and has handed them computer records and also dispatched its head of compliance to Milan to give evidence. RR: Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce RR.L has expressed interest in manufacturing small aircraft engines along with Indian companies as part of Prime Minister Modi's Make in India project, the Economic Times reported Monday.
* BRITISH ELECTIONS: British Prime Minister Theresa May refused on Saturday to rule out an increase in personal taxes if she wins a June election, riling supporters at the start of a campaign designed to strengthen her hand ahead of Brexit talks. EMA: Europe's drugmakers pushed for a decision as early as June on the new location for the headquarters of the bloc's medicines watchdog, which will relocate from London after Britain's decision to leave the EU. BOE: Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders on Friday opened the possibility that he will soon join a minority calling for higher interest rates, predicting that both growth and inflation could well exceed the BoE's earlier forecasts. GOLD: Gold hits its lowest in nearly two weeks on Monday after centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of French presidential election, boosting stocks and sparking a sell-off in the safe-haven bullion. Spot gold XAU= was down 0.7 percent at $1,275.46 per ounce by 0342 GMT. OIL: Oil prices recovered ground on Monday following last week's big losses, driven by expectations that OPEC will extend a pledge to cut output to cover all of 2017, although a relentless rise in U.S. drilling capped gains. Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 30 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $52.26 per barrel. British shares inched lower on Friday, scoring their worst weekly losses since early November after Tuesday's surprise call for an national election caused equities to fall. The FTSE 100 .FTSE fell 0.1 percent, ending the week with a fall of 2.9 percent. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Nasstar Plc
NASA.L Full Year 2016 Earnings Anglo American Plc
Q1 production
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