UK Stocks-Factors to watch on April 12

April 12 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 18

points lower at 7,239 on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.

* SHIRE: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd has sounded out creditors for

loans, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as it moves closer to

making a bid for London-listed rare disease specialist Shire that could

top $40 billion.

* FIRSTGROUP: British bus and rail operator FirstGroup has rejected

a takeover approach from U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management

, becoming the latest company to be swept up by a wave of bids in the UK.

* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto, defended its executive salary

policy on Wednesday after proxy adviser Glass Lewis urged shareholders to vote

against it and criticised the firm for paying out bonuses in 2017, a year when

two employees died at work.

* GLENCORE: Swiss-based trading and mining giant Glencore will

declare force majeure on some aluminium supply, days after the United States

sanctioned major supplier Rusal and its boss, metals magnate Oleg

Deripaska, a source familiar with the matter said.

* PLAYTECH: British gambling technology company Playtech said it

agreed to buy a 70.6 percent stake in Italian betting and gaming firm Snaitech

for 846 million euros($1.05 billion), in a move to source most of its

revenue from regulated markets.

* BRITAIN-SYRIA: British Prime Minister Theresa May has called government

ministers to a Thursday cabinet meeting on Syria, which media reports said was

likely to lead to London joining in a military response to a suspected chemical

attack in Syria.

* BRITAIN HOUSE PRICES: A closely-watched gauge of British house prices held

at a five-year low last month, reflecting soft consumer demand at a time when

the Bank of England looks set to raise interest rates, property valuers said on

Thursday.

* BRITISH ECONOMY: Britain's economy has been treading water since the start

of the year and inflation pressures are easing, limiting the case for the Bank

of England to raise interest rates next month, the British Chambers of Commerce

said on Thursday.

* OIL: Oil markets remained tense on Thursday on concerns over a military

escalation in Syria, although prices remained some way off Wednesday's highest

since late 2014 as bulging American supplies weighed.

* GOLD: After suffering three defeats in a week, including a Champions

League exit, leaders Manchester City get back to business in the Premier League

on Saturday but face another tough test at fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

* EX-DIVS: ITV Plc, Paddy Power Betfair, Reckitt Benckiser

Group, Rentokil Initial and Smurfit Kappa Group will

trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming

4.27 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations.

* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.13 percent at 7,257.14 on Wednesday,

as renewed caution among investors dented Britain's top share index as Western

forces discussed possible military action against Syria, although strong results

from Tesco pushed its shares higher.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

Comptoir Group PLC Full Year

Hays PLC Q3

Greene King PLC Pre-Close Trading Statement

Dunelm Group PLC Q3

Man Group PLC Q1

WH Smith PLC Half Year

Saga PLC Preliminary 2018 Earnings Release

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

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(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru)