UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Nov 22

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 15 points lower at 7,036 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.

* LLOYDS: A senior lawmaker has demanded an investigation into the way the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L handled information related to one of Britain's biggest fraud cases. VODAFONE: An Italian administrative court annulled fines on phone operators Telecom Italia TLIT.MI , Vodafone VODA.L , Fastweb SCMN.S and Wind3 which had been imposed last year by communications regulator AGCOM over a billing practice. STANDARD CHARTERED: New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS) will end a period of monitoring of Standard Chartered STAN.L on Dec. 31, the DFS said on Wednesday, bringing to a close one strand of the bank's punishment for past failings in compliance controls. GOLD: Gold prices held firm on Thursday after hitting the highest in two weeks in the previous session, with improved risk appetite weighing on the U.S. dollar. OIL: Oil prices dipped on Thursday after U.S. crude inventories increased to their highest level since December 2017 amid concerns of an emerging global glut, although an expected supply cut by producer cartel OPEC prevented further drops. EX-DIVS: Carnival (NYSE: CCL ) CCL.L , DCC DCC.L , Evraz EVRE.L , Imperial Brands IMB.L , National Grid NG.L and Vodafone Group VOD.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 9.8 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. The UK blue chip index ended up 1.5 percent on Wednesday for their best day in two months, helped by oil and banking stocks and upbeat results from Johnson Matthey (LON: JMAT ), which soothed investor concerns about slowing earnings growth. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets