March 10 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 32 points lower at 6,698 on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSa.L shut the hydrocracker at its 227,400 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana refinery to repair a leak, said sources familiar with plant operations on Tuesday. ANTOFAGASTA: Workers at Antofagasta (LON:ANTO)'s Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile on Tuesday voted to reject the company's latest contract offer, paving the way for a strike, a union spokesman told Reuters. HEATHROW: Britain's Heathrow Airport said on Tuesday it raised 350 million pounds ($485.21 million) in bonds maturing in 2028, as it bolsters its pandemic-hit finances ahead of the reopening of international travel in May. AVIATION: Britain wants to cut air passenger duty on internal flights and will launch a consultation this spring, the government said as the aviation industry suffers from the COVID-19 pandemic. HOUSING: Renters' appetite for property in central London and its inner suburbs has jumped as life appears nearer to returning to normal as the COVID pandemic recedes, data from property website Rightmove showed. GOLD: Gold inched lower after posting its biggest jump in two months a day earlier. OIL: Oil fell as investors took profits while looking ahead to U.S. inventories data due later in the day for pointers on where prices will head next. The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed 0.2% higher on Tuesday thanks to strength in industrials and other defensive sectors, although broader gains were capped by weakness in mining stocks due to a drop in metal prices. UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Balfour Beatty
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