(Adds futures, company news)
Sept 15 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 13 to 15 points, or 0.2 percent lower, on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 down 0.3 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* The UK blue chip index closed 0.12 percent higher at 6,673.31 points on Wednesday, breaking a three-day losing run, as firmer mining stocks enabled the market to recover some ground. NEXT: British clothing retailer Next NXT.L reported a 1.5 percent fall in first half profit on Thursday and said trading since July had been challenging and volatile. MORRISONS: Morrisons MRW.L , Britain's No. 4 supermarket, reported a rise in first-half profit for the first time in four years and a third straight quarter of underlying sales growth, indicating its recovery is gaining momentum. ENQUEST: Oil producer EnQuest Plc ENQ.L said it ended talks with Israeli conglomerate Delek Group Ltd DLEKG.TA regarding a potential stake sale in an oilfield in the North Sea. JOHN LEWIS: British retailer John Lewis's JLP.UL said on Thursday it was taking an exceptional charge of 25 million pounds ($33.10 million) after deciding to write down property assets it no longer plans to develop for its upmarket grocer Waitrose. BP: BP BP.L does not plan to increase annual investments this decade but still expects to bring nine new projects online in 2017 as it focuses on improving efficiency, Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in an interview on Wednesday. GLAXOSMITHKLINE: GlaxoSmithKline's GSK.L experimental vaccine to prevent the intensely painful condition known as shingles remained 90 percent effective in people over age 70 even four years after receiving the injection, according to data published on Wednesday. SKY: Sky Italia, a unit of Sky Plc SKYB.L , is not interested in buying Mediaset 's MS.MI pay-TV unit Premium, Sky Italia CEO Andrea Zappia said on Wednesday. ANGLO AMERICAN: Anglo American AAL.L owned De Beers, one of the world's largest diamond producers, expects some growth in the consumer market next year but its chief executive warned the overall sales environment is likely to remain tough. INFORMA: British business media group Informa Plc INF.L said it had agreed to buy U.S.-based information services company Penton, from private equity firms MidOcean Partners and Wasserstein & Co for 1.18 billion pounds ($1.56 billion). ROCKROSE ENERGY: Maersk Oil, a unit of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk MAERSKb.CO , has agreed to sell stakes in three North Sea fields to RockRose Energy RRE.L , the latest new entrant into the ageing basin. MONETARY POLICY: The Bank of England is expected to say on Thursday that it will still probably cut interest rates to a fraction above zero later this year, despite signs it overestimated the initial shock to Britain's economy from June's Brexit vote. OIL: Oil prices rebounded in early Asian trade on Thursday after falling around 3 percent in the previous session, supported by an unexpected fall in U.S. crude inventories. COPPER: London copper was treading water on Thursday, a day after posting its biggest daily rise in three months as traders closed short positions following encouraging Chinese economic data and ahead of a spate of holidays. VODAFONE: Seven telecom operators in India including top carriers Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS , Vodafone VOD.L and Idea Cellular IDEA.NS , along with new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm, will participate in the country's biggest spectrum auction scheduled to begin Oct. 1, the Economic Times reported on Thursday. EX-DIVS: Hargreaves Lansdown HRGV.L and Worldpay Group WPG.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 0.25 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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