News: WOW UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Aug 10

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening down 45 points on Thursday, according to financial spreadbetters.

• BP: Australia's antitrust regulator said on Thursday it was concerned BP Plc's BP.L plan to buy the petrol stations of grocery giant Woolworths Ltd (WOW) would hurt competition, a sign it may block the A$1.8 billion ($1.4 billion) deal.
• SKY: Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey has said he is considering withdrawing his support for Twenty-First Century Fox's FOXA.O attempt to take over Sky SKYB.L , saying he believes the 11.7 billion pound ($15.20 billion) deal undervalues the British broadcaster.
• SSE: British energy utility SSE SSE.L has hedged 1.2 billion pounds ($1.56 billion) of longevity risk in two of its defined benefit pension schemes, adviser Hymans Robertson said on Thursday.
• BHP: The rise of electric vehicles is driving the world's biggest mining house, BHP (BHP) , BLT.L to switch gears and invest heavily in its long-suffering nickel business.
• PENSION INSURANCE CORP: Specialist annuity provider Pension Insurance Corp (PIC) is interested in buying books of UK annuity policies which are closed to new customers, its head of strategic development David Collinson told Reuters on Wednesday.
• WORLDPAY: U.S. credit card processing company Vantiv VNTV.N secured a deal to buy British-based rival Worldpay WPG.L for 8 billion pounds ($10.4 billion) on Wednesday in a bid to create a $29 billion global payments powerhouse.
• EX-DIVS: Anglo American AAL.L , AstraZeneca AZN.L ,Barclays BARC.L , BP BP.L , BT Group BT.L , Diageo DGE.L , Direct Line DLGD.L , Fresnillo FRES.L , GKN Plc GKN.L , GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L , Informa INF.L , Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L , Royal Dutch Shell A RDSa.L , Royal Dutch Shell B RDSb.L , Rio Tinto RIO.L and Rentokil Initial RTO.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday, trimming 41.30 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters calculations
• Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 .FTSE index ended the session down 0.6 percent at 7,498.06, broadly in line with a negative European market. Britain's top share index was shaken from its summer lull on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions hit equity markets globally, sending investors into safe-havens such as gold mining stocks, while an earnings update weighed on shares in G4S.
• For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
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