March 15 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 2 points higher at 7,135 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.
* SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L is close to bagging a deal to supply Hong Kong with liquefied natural gas (LNG), beating out major competitors for the right to be the first company to supply LNG to the area. GLENCORE: Glencore Plc GLEN.L , the world's biggest producer of cobalt, has agreed to sell around a third of its cobalt production over the next three years to Chinese battery recycler GEM Co Ltd 002340.SZ , according to a filing by GEM on Wednesday. BHP: BHP's BLT.L Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest, said on Wednesday that it has invited its powerful workers' union to start early talks on a new collective labor contract. GOLD: Gold prices edged higher early Thursday and hovered near one-week highs hit in the previous session, as concerns over trade tensions weighed on share markets. OIL: Oil prices held steady on Thursday, supported by healthy global demand but capped by the relentless rise in U.S. production that is undermining efforts led by producer cartel OPEC to cut supplies and prop up markets. EX-DIVS: Anglo American AAL.L and Hammerson HMSO.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 1.37 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. The UK blue chip FTSE 100 .FTSE index closed down 0.09 percent at 7,132.69 points on Wednesday, as shares gave up early gains and finished in negative territory as points gained by Prudential (LON:PRU) and mining stocks were overturned by simmering fears of a global trade war that pushed Wall Street into the red. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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