(Adds futures, company news)
March 11 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up on Friday, with futures FFIc1 for the index up 1.4 percent at 0733 GMT. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on The UK blue chip index closed 1.8 percent lower at 6,036.70 points, its lowest close since late February, on Thursday after a sharp fall in commodities stocks offset an earlier rally fuelled by the European Central Bank's move to cut its deposit rate. BHP BILLITON: Samarco, a joint venture between Brazil's Vale SA VALE5.SA and Australia's BHP Billiton BLT.L , expects to restart production at its iron ore mine in Minas Gerais by the start of the fourth quarter, its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday, less than a year after a burst tailings dam there killed 19 people. OLD MUTUAL: Anglo-South African financial services company Old Mutual Plc OML.L said on Friday it would split up its four main units - Old Mutual Emerging Markets, Old Mutual Wealth, Nedbank Group NEDJ.J and OM Asset Management OMAM.N to unlock value. JD WETHERSPOON: Pubs group JD Wetherspoon JDW.L reported a 3.9 percent dip in first-half pretax profit and said government tax policy was penalizing pubs and restaurants that were struggling to compete with supermarket sales of cheaper alcohol. JUST RETIREMENT: Just Retirement Group Plc JRG.L reported a 43 percent jump in first-half operating profit and said its almost $1 billion acquisition of rival Partnership Assurance PA.L would complete next month. OIL: Oil prices jumped on Friday supported by fresh investment and a strong yuan, which makes fuel cheaper for Chinese importers, but analysts warned that any price rally was pre-mature as a global glut remained in place. O/R
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