(Adds company news items, futures)
Nov 17 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 19 to 21 points, or as much as 0.3 percent, on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.16 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* The UK blue chip index ended down 0.6 percent on Wednesday after gaining in the previous two sessions, with companies such as jet engine maker Rolls-Royce RR.L and the country's biggest housebuilder Barratt BDEV.L slipping. ANGLO AMERICAN: Global miner Anglo American AAL.L said on Wednesday it was suspending all operations at its Los Bronces copper mine in central Chile after protesters seized installations at the mine earlier in the day. INVESTEC: South African financial services group Investec Ltd INLJ.J INVP.L reported a 20 percent rise in half-year profit on Thursday, buoyed by a strong showing at its asset management and wealth arm. RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto RIO.AX RIO.L said on Thursday it had terminated the contracts of energy & minerals chief executive Alan Davies, and legal & regulatory affairs group executive Debra Valentine. JOHNSON MATTHEY: Johnson Matthey JMAT.L , a world leader in making catalysts for car emission-control devices, said it had raised its interim dividend by 5 percent to 20.5 pence and first-half sales were also up 5 percent from a year ago. PREMIER OIL: Oil producer Premier Oil PMO.L said on Thursday it had agreed with its lenders to extend the repayment of its debt in exchange for some control over which projects the company can invest in. VODAFONE: Vodafone VOD.L said regulators could look favourably on any wider tie-up between the mobile telecom giant and cable company Liberty Global LBTYA.O in Europe because it would counterbalance the power of former incumbents in Germany, Italy and Britain. GSK: Two former corporate investigators have sued GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L , alleging the drugmaker misled them and induced them to investigate an innocent person, resulting in their imprisonment. MAIL.RU: Megafon MFON.MM , Russia's second biggest mobile phone network operator, said on Wednesday it was in talks with the shareholders of Mail.ru MAILRq.L that could lead to it taking a stake in the Internet group. VIRGIN MONEY: Funds managed by WL Ross & Co have launched an accelerated bookbuild to sell up to 27 million ordinary shares in Virgin Money Holdings VM.L . BRITAIN DRUGS: Roche ROG.S and Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY.N on Thursday became the latest drugmakers to cut the price of cancer medicines in order to secure access to Britain's National Health Service. TANZANIA MINING: The Tanzanian president's recent calls to build more smelters to process gold show a lack of understanding of how the industry works, the head of the industry's trade body said on Wednesday. BANKING REGULATION: The United States must not scrap bank capital requirements introduced at the height of the financial crisis aimed at avoiding more taxpayer bailouts of lenders, an architect of the rules said on Wednesday. EX-DIVS: Bunzl BNZL.L , Imperial Brands IMB.L , Marks & Spencer MKS.L and Sainsbury SBRY.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout on Thursday, trimming 2.9 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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