May 12 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening up 1
point at 7,387 on Friday, according to financial bookmakers.
    
    * LLOYDS: The British government will make at least a 500 million pound
($645 million) profit from its bailout of Lloyds Banking Group, Chief
Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said on Thursday, as the lender nears a return to
private hands.
    * BT: BT proposed on Thursday building a network to connect 10
million homes with ultrafast full-fibre broadband by the mid-2020s, but told
rivals which would also use the network to give their backing so the investment
made commercial sense.
    * BARCLAYS: Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley, criticised for his
attempts to unmask a whistleblower, took another knock on Thursday when the bank
confirmed he had been deceived by emails purportedly from the lender's Chairman
John McFarlane.
    * GEORGIA: Bank of Georgia said on Thursday it had mandated JP
Morgan and Renaissance Capital to arrange investor meetings ahead of a potential
lari-denominated Eurobond issue. 
    * OIL: Oil prices were stable on Friday as traders expected OPEC-led
production cuts to extend beyond the middle of this year, and as U.S. crude
inventories fell to their lowest levels since February.
    * GOLD: Gold prices held firm on Friday on political uncertainty in the
United States, but were set for their fourth straight weekly loss due to
expectations of an interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve in June.
   
    * The UK blue chip index ended flat at 7,386.63 points, on Thursday, after
five straight sessions of gains as disappointing results and downgrades weighed,
as well as a slump in Hikma's HIK.L shares after a setback to one of its drugs.

    * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
    
    * UK CORPORATE DIARY:    
 Hydrodec Group Plc                   Full Year 2016 Earnings Release
 Provident Financial Plc              Q1 2017 Interim Management Statement
                                      Release
        
    TODAY'S UK PAPERS
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 (Reporting by Harish Bhaskar; Editing by Sunil Nair)