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April 9 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 3 points higher at 6,945 points on Friday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures .FFIc1 up 0.3% ahead of the cash market open.
* PAGEGROUP: PageGroup PAGE.L reported higher first-quarter gross profit, with a growth of 31% in March, helped by improvements in hiring in its EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. BOOHOO: Boohoo BOOH.L said it had taken a long-term lease for a new warehouse in the English town of Daventry, as the group looks to expand and add capacity to its existing facilities. FRASERS: Frasers said it will book a non-cash charge, which could be in excess of 200 million pounds ($274 million), in its 2020-21 results to account for impairment of its assets during the latest COVID-19 lockdown. RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX said it has reached a binding agreement with Turquoise Hill Resources TRQ.TO to update funding plans for the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia. ASTRAZENECA: Hong Kong said on Friday it will delay shipments of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)'s AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine this year amid mounting concerns over possible links between the shot and very rare cases of blood clots. HSBC: HSBC HSBA.L and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a combined $300 million in financing to help Asia's supply chains boost manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines, the two lenders said on Friday. WIZZ AIR: Wizz Air WIZZ.L has replaced its flight operations chief after he was apparently recorded telling his team to draw up a redundancy list of pilots who were often sick or "caused grief" while sparing cheaper contract crew. ASTRAZENECA: The Dutch government will limit use of the AstraZeneca AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine to people above age 60 following rare cases of blood clots, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said on Thursday. ASTRAZENECA: Australia and the Philippines limited use of AstraZeneca's AZN.L COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, while the African Union dropped plans to buy the shot amid global shortages, dealing further blows to the company's hopes to deliver a vaccine for the world. GOLD: Gold prices fell on Friday as robust economic data from China boosted hopes of a swift recovery, although bullion was set to rise more than 1% on the week as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields pulled back from recent highs. OIL: Oil prices edged up in early Asian trade on Friday, supported by a weaker dollar, as investors weighed rising supplies and the impact on fuel demand from the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 0.8% on Thursday as heavyweight mining stocks tracked rising metal prices For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
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