UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 18

March 18 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up on Tuesday, with futures FFIc1 up 0.22%.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Britain's Labour government will announce plans to cut the amount spent on supporting people with disabilities and long-term health conditions and will freeze thousands of government-issued credit cards as it tries to repair the country's strained public finances.

GLENCORE: Glencore GLEN.L has made an offer to acquire Canadian lithium battery recycling company Li-Cycle LICYN.MX as part of a proposal to offset operational and financial issues.

AI: Britain must leverage its strengths to influence how artificial intelligence is deployed around the world, DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis said, as the AI research firm's owner Google GOOGL.O announced upgrades to its offering in the country.

REGULATORS: UK industry bodies have welcomed HM Treasury's action plan to streamline regulators' core legal duties and establish a concierge service for international financial services firms looking to domicile in London.

OIL: Oil prices rose slightly supported by instability in the Middle East as well as China's stimulus plans and data, although global growth concerns, U.S. tariffs and Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks curbed gains.

GOLD: Gold held steady hovering near an all-time high hit last week, as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision.

METALS: Copper prices on the London Metals Exchange (LME) slipped from a five-month high on Tuesday, though China's stimulus plan and a weak U.S. dollar limited the losses.

The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 0.6% on Monday driven by energy and mining shares

UK CORPORATE DIARY:

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