European Factors to Watch-Shares seen lower, focus on telecoms

(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK
stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
for site in development. See the bottom of the report)
LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - European shares were likely to
open slightly lower on Monday after slipping to a one-month low
in the previous session, with weaker metals and crude oil prices
seen putting pressure on resource-related stocks.
Telecom stocks are also likely to fall sharply after talks
between Orange ORAN.PA and Bouygues BOUY.PA on a deal to
create a dominant French telecoms operator collapsed on Friday,
ending an attempt to ease a price war that has ravaged
operators' margins. ID:nL5N1744DT
Futures for the Euro STOXX 50 STXEc1 , Germany's DAX
FDXc1 , France's CAC FCEc1 and Britain's FTSE FFIc1 fell
0.1 to 0.4 percent.
Commodities stocks will be in focus after copper prices slid
for a seventh straight session to its lowest in a month on
lingering concerns about demand in top consumer China. MET/L
Oil prices also fell as the chances of Middle East producers
agreeing to curb overproduction appeared to fade, while
stubbornly high U.S. output and worries about Asia's economic
outlook also dragged on prices. O/R
On the macroeconomic front, International Monetary Fund
Managing Director Christine Lagarde denied on Sunday that IMF
staff would push Greece closer to default as a negotiating
tactic on a new Greek bailout deal, which she said was "still a
good distance away." ID:nL5N1750HH
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 fell 1.5
percent to a one-month low in the previous session.
However, a Reuters poll predicted on Friday that European
shares will rise 8 percent from present levels to the end of
2016, with the European Central Bank's supportive monetary
policy and the region's improving economic outlook seen helping
riskier assets. NEWS
ORANGE ORAN.PA , BOUYGUES BOUY.PA , ILIAD ILD.PA
Telecom shares are likely to fall sharply as talks between
Orange and Bouygues on a deal to create a dominant French
telecoms operator collapsed on Friday, ending an attempt to ease
a price war in the country that has ravaged operators' margins.
BMWG.DE DAIGn.DE VOWG_p.DE
Carmakers published U.S. sales data for March late on
Friday. Deliveries of Volkswagen were down around 10 pct, BMW
sales fell 13.3 percent, with sales of Mercedes-Benz and Smart
down 1.1 percent.
Volkswagen is recalling 91,000 Passat sedans in the United
States to fix insufficient cable insulation that could cause
short circuits, it said on Friday. PAPERS
A huge data leak from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca
allegedly reveals how some companies domiciled in tax havens are
being used for suspected money laundering, arms and drug deals,
and tax evasion, a consortium of more than 100 news
organisations around the world reported on Sunday. BANK DBKGn.DE
The German lender wants to drastically simplify its
information technology systems and has tasked, Deutsche Bank
executive Kim Hammonds with overhauling the fragmented systems,
Boersen-Zeitung said.
Separately, Deutsche Bank has fallen from third to fifth
among the world's top investment banks, according to data
released by financial industry research house Coalition.
TKAG.DE
Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA is finalising a proposal to
sell its 26.87 percent stake in a steel slab plant that cost
nearly $10 billion to build to Germany's Thyssenkrupp for $1
plus the assumption of some debt, a source close to the deal
said. PRTP.PA
The French luxury group is expected to announce as soon as
Monday that Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello will be the new
creative director of fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent, a source
told Reuters on Friday. SYSTEMES DAST.PA
The French software maker will acquire full ownership of
3DPLM Software, its joint venture with Geometric Ltd.
AIR.PA
The aerospace and defense group informed UK authorities of
findings concerning some inaccuracies related to applications
for export credit financing for Airbus customers. GBFG.DE
The troubled engineering services group will not ask its
shareholders for a routine approval of five executives'
performance at its annual meeting next month because of ongoing
compliance investigations, it said on Friday. NDXG.DE
Nordex said it had received all regulatory approvals for its
merger with Acciona Windpower, meaning the deal was now final.
UHR.S
Growth in Swiss watch sales may have dipped but the industry
"is and remains healthy," Swatch Chief Executive Officer Nick
Hayek said in an interview with the French language newspaper Le
Temps published on Saturday. BAER BAER.S
Julius Baer has completed a deal to buy an additional 60.1
percent stake in Italian wealth manager Kairos to give it
overall ownership of 80 percent, the Swiss private bank said on
Monday. GATE.S
The Swiss airline caterer remains at loggerheads with its
biggest investors, RBR Capital Advisors and Cologny Advisors,
which are seeking to depose Chairman Andreas Schmid.

NOVARTIS NOVN.S
The Swiss drugmaker, whose shares have dropped by a fifth
this year, took its campaign to invigorate sluggish sales of its
new heart failure medicine Entresto to a U.S. cardiologists
meeting on Saturday, telling attendees even clinically stable
patients can benefit from the drug. ABBN.S , SULZER SUN.S
A Swiss newspaper reported on Saturday that the two Swiss
companies' names have emerged in emails linked to Unaoil, a
Monaco-based company whose offices have been raided as part of a
probe into alleged corruption within the global oil industry.
Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK
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for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format
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please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.
Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA.