UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 14

March 14 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening higher on Friday, with futures FFIc1 up 0.20%.

ECONOMY: Britain's economic output contracted unexpectedly by 0.1% in January, pulled down by a sharp drop in manufacturing output compared with December, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.

BERKELEY: Homebuilder Berkeley BKGH.L voiced concerns over the fast-paced and extensive regulatory changes in the UK housing sector, saying these alterations are placing substantial pressure on its new home deliveries.

LLOYDS: Lloyds LLOY.L expects a bifurcation of growth among syndicates in 2026 and beyond as the Corporation maintains a hard line on underwriting and reserving capabilities for new entrants and business expansion, chief of markets Patrick Tiernan said.

APPLE: The UK held private talks with the U.S. to resolve concerns that UK is trying to force Apple AAPL.O to build a backdoor into Americans' encrypted data, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

DEFENCE: Britain said it would increase the amount it lends to countries to buy from British defence firms

SHELL: Shell SHEL.L said it had completed the sale of its Nigerian onshore subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), to Renaissance.

BP: BP BP.L is seeking to sell 50% of its solar unit Lightsource bp , according to a sales document seen by Reuters.

ANGLO AMERICAN: Anglo American AAL.L has begun a consultation process in the UK and South Africa to cut jobs, to refocus its operations on copper and iron ore mining, a spokesperson said.

OIL: Oil prices rebounded to recover some of their losses of more than 1% in the previous session.

GOLD: Gold reached an all-time high.

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