UK Stocks-Factors to watch on February 21

Adds new items, updates futures

Feb 21 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening lower on Friday, with futures FFIc1 down 0.05%.

CMA: UK's competition regulator has fined four global banks, Citi C.N, HSBC HSBA.L, Morgan Stanley MS.N, and Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO 104.5 million pounds ($132.4 million) for exchanging sensitive information about UK government bonds between 2009 and 2013.

RETAIL: British retail sales rose by a much higher than expected 1.7% in January, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.

BUDGET: Britain's government ran a budget surplus of 15.4 billion pounds last month, official figures showed.

BOE: British consumers turned a little less pessimistic this month as the Bank of England's latest interest rate cut led to an improvement in expectations for their household finances, according to a survey.

STANDARD CHARTERED: Standard Chartered STAN.L announced a $1.5 billion share buyback and a higher earnings target, after reporting its annual profit rose 18%.

ABRDN: Abrdn ABDN.L is in advanced talks with Citic Bank 601998.SS to launch an asset management joint venture in China, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

LABOUR: The number of job postings in the United Kingdom rose for the first time in seven months in January, a survey by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation showed.

ELECTRICITY: Britain's electricity distribution network is facing a fundamental role change to deliver the country's net zero emissions target, requiring more proactive investments, a report from a government-appointed commission found.

OIL: Oil prices extended gains, headed for a weekly increase.

GOLD: Gold prices remained steady on Friday.

METAL: London copper eased on Friday.

For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/

TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times PRESS/FT
> Other business headlines PRESS/GB

($1 = 0.7890 pounds)