Sept 9 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 5-9 points, or 0.1 percent lower on Friday, according to financial bookmakers.
* The UK blue chip index closed up 0.2 percent on Thursday at 6,858.70, outperforming European shares thanks to sterling weakness, with British companies also less directly exposed to any disappointment from the ECB. PRUDENTIAL: South Korea's Mirae Asset Life Insurance Co Ltd 085620.KS said in a regulatory filing on Friday it had submitted a final bid for PCA Life Insurance Co Ltd, an unlisted South Korean unit of British insurer Prudential PLC PRU.L . HENDERSON: Henderson Global Investors HGGH.L , which froze its open-ended UK property fund in the wake of Brexit, has sold one of its prized London office properties to Chinese developer China Vanke 2202.HK 000002.SZ , the buyer said on Thursday. TBC: TBC Bank Group Plc TBCG.L , Georgia's largest retail bank, confirmed it was in talks to buy JSC Bank Republic, a unit of French bank Societe Generale SOGN.PA . BREXIT: The European Parliament has named Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and arch-foe of eurosceptics across the continent, to represent it in forthcoming Brexit negotiations with London. BREXIT: Britain's finance minister Philip Hammond warned other European Union countries that attempts to break up London's role as a global financial centre in the wake of the country's Brexit vote would be a "huge mistake" for the EU. BREXIT: Hammond played down expectations of a surge in public spending to offset the economic hit from the Brexit vote, but said he could fund modest infrastructure projects if needed. UK ENERGY: Britain is set to miss its 2020 European renewable energy targets, a parliamentary committee report said on Friday, setting a poor example for less wealthy countries as the world tries to rein in global warming. UK INVESTMENT: British firms are likely to cut investment during the rest of this year and in 2017 due to the Brexit vote, and the government must show quickly how it will move forward with leaving the European Union, a professional body for accountants said. OIL: Oil prices pulled back on profit-taking on Friday after settling more than 4 percent higher a day earlier, following a surprisingly huge drawdown in U.S. crude stocks as Gulf Coast imports slumped to a record low. COPPER: London copper was set to edge higher for a second week on Friday in the wake of the northern hemisphere summer lull, while prices have also been cushioned by a softer dollar. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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