March 19 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 16 points on Monday, according to financial bookmakers.
* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) has asked Swiss investment bank UBS to explore a possible public listing of its Pacific Aluminium smelting business on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), two industry sources said on Friday. GLENCORE: Angolan state oil company Sonangol awarded its rare refined products buy tender to Glencore (LON:GLEN) and Total, Sonangol said on Friday, cutting out long-time supplier Trafigura. BRITIAN ECONOMY: Britons' incomes are rising at near their fastest rate since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, increasing the chance the Bank of England will soon raise interest rates again, a survey of households showed on Monday. GOLD: Gold prices extended losses into a fourth session on Monday, with the dollar remaining supported as investors expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this week. OIL: Oil prices fell on Monday as increased drilling in the United States pointed to more output, raising concerns about a return of oversupply. The UK blue chip index closed 0.3 percent higher at 7,164.14 on Friday, but the FTSE 100 registered a weekly decline in spite of a boost from energy and financials stocks. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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