UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Dec 18

Dec 18 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 36 points lower at 6,738 on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers.

* BREXIT: UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday she would bring her Brexit deal back to parliament for a mid-January vote, pledging to get assurances from the European Union before then to break a deadlock over Britain's fraught efforts to quit the bloc. ROYAL DUTCH SHELL: An Italian judge said on Monday oil majors Eni ENI.MI and Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L were fully aware their 2011 purchase of a Nigerian oilfield would result in corrupt payments to Nigerian politicians and officials. SSE: SSE's SSE.L plan to transform itself into a renewables and transmission networks powerhouse has been short-circuited. The UK energy group was forced to ditch a plan to merge its retail division with that of Germany's Innogy IGY.DE .Of the two, SSE looks worse off. GLENCORE: A Canadian regulator will consider on Tuesday whether to accept a proposal from Katanga Mining Limited KAT.TO to settle allegations related to the Glencore-controlled GLEN.L company's activities in Democratic Republic of Congo. SOLGOLD: Australian gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX has raised its holdings in Ecuador gold and copper developer SolGold Plc SOLG.L , nudging further ahead of the company's second biggest investor BHP Group BHPB.L , BHP.AX . SHELL: Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSa.AS restarted the heavy oil hydrocracker at its 209,787-barrel-per-day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery on Monday, said sources familiar with plant operations. GOLD: Gold prices were largely steady on Tuesday ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that starts later in the day, with investors looking for clues on the central bank's outlook for next year. OIL: Oil prices dropped over 1 percent on Tuesday, falling for a third straight session, as reports of inventory builds and forecasts of record shale output in the United States, currently the world's biggest producer, stoked worries about oversupply. The UK blue chip index closed 1.1 percent lower on Monday, as a profit warning from online fashion store ASOS (LON: ASOS ) reverberated across Europe and reinforced woes about slow sales during the busy holiday season, adding to a pre-Christmas gloom and worries over Brexit. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets