UK Stocks-Factors to watch on February 28

Feb 28 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening lower on Friday, with futures FFIc1 down 0.60%.

TRADE: The United States and Britain are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump told a joint news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

AI: PM Keir Starmer said that he would work with U.S. President Donald Trump on a new economic deal with advanced technology like AI at its core.

ENERGY: British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will visit China in March to restart talks on energy cooperation and meet Chinese investors, three sources told Reuters.

BUSINESS: British businesses turned more optimistic for the first time in seven months in February as they took a brighter view on the economy and ramped up their hiring plans, according to a Lloyd's survey.

GSK: British drugmaker GSK GSK.L said it will no longer set diversity targets, as it became the latest company to scale back or abandon such goals in response to the U.S. president's opposition to them.

ONE HYDE PARK: The manager of London's One Hyde Park apartment block, is suing Laing O'Rourke's subsidiary, for just over 35 million pounds ($44.04 million), on corroded pipeworks in the properties.

OIL: Oil prices eased, heading for their first monthly drop since November.

GOLD: Gold edged lower and was set to post its biggest weekly drop in over three months.

METALS: London copper prices eased and were on track to post weekly losses.

The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 0.3% on Thursday with bright forecasts from Rolls-Royce RR.L and the London Stock Exchange Group LSEG.L.

UK CORPORATE DIARY:

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

($1 = 0.7947 pounds)