Nov 2 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 27 points on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.
* CHRYSAOR/ SHELL: North Sea producer Chrysaor plans to begin drilling for oil and gas in early 2018 after completing a $3 billion acquisition from Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L , Chrysaor Chairman Linda Cook said on Wednesday. LADBROKES CORAL: Funds of private equity companies Apollo APO.N and Cerberus CBS.UL are selling down approximately 2.6 percent in London-listed gambling company Ladbrokes Coral LCL.L , the transaction's bookrunner said on Wednesday. STRATEX: Shareholders of miner Stratex International STIL.L have blocked a reverse takeover of Australia-listed Crusader Resources CAS.AX and voted Chief Executive Marcus Engelbrecht out of office. BARCLAYS: Troels Oerting, the head of cyber and information security at Britain's Barclays Plc BARC.L , has taken a leave of absence, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. EX-DIVS: Unilever ULVR.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 1.46 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 ended 0.07 percent down at 7,487.96 points, while the mid-cap index .FTMC rose by 0.5 percent. The FTSE gave up some gains after robust UK manufacturing data, which bolstered expectations for an interest rate increase from the Bank of England on Thursday and sent sterling higher. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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