(Adds futures)
Dec 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 12 by points, or 0.2 percent higher, according to financial bookmakers, with futures .FFIc1 flat ahead of the cash market open.
* The UK blue chip index closed 0.2 percent lower at 6,223.52 points on Monday, as commodity shares came under severe pressure after prices of crude oil and metals slipped.
* OIL MAJORS: EU antitrust regulators have dropped Shell RDSa.L , BP BP.L , and Statoil STL.OL from an investigation into suspected rigging of ethanol benchmarks, focusing instead on three producers of the biofuel.
* BARCLAYS: Barclays Plc BARC.L won the dismissal on Monday of a Saudi real estate company's $10 billion lawsuit alleging the bank ceased pursuing lease payments due from the Saudi government on military complexes in order to obtain a banking license.
* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto RIO.AX RIO.L said it expects its 2016 capital spending budget to fall by about $500 million to $5 billion, but said it remained well placed to invest in its businesses.
* BHP BILLITON: A deadly dam burst at a Brazilian iron ore mine has triggered a civil lawsuit seeking 20 billion reais ($5.31 billion) in environmental and property damages from mine operator Samarco and its owners, BHP Billiton (L:BLT) Ltd BHP.AX and Vale SA VALE5.SA , Vale said in a securities filing on Monday.
* RETAIL: British retail sales grew at the weakest pace for any November since 2011 as hopes of a surge from Black Friday discounts fell flat, according to a survey from the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday.
* HEATHROW: British Prime Minister David Cameron is unlikely to give final approval for expanding Heathrow Airport as expected this month, further delaying the politically charged decision which has been 25 years in the making, an industry source said.
* METALS: China's imports of copper jumped 10 percent to 460,000 tonnes in November from a year earlier, as a deepening rout in prices spurred opportunistic buying even as demand growth in the world's No. 2 economy slows, customs data showed on Tuesday.
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