UK Stocks-Factors to watch on September 3 (updated)
UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on September 3 Adds news items, updates to FTSE open move
Sept 3 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index opened flat on Thursday.
* CREST NICHOLSON: Crest Nicholson CRST.L warned of an annual operating loss of around £10 million, reversing its prior outlook for a profit.
* M&G: M&G MNG.L beat half-year profit expectations and forecast low double-digit annual profit growth, as strong client inflows from its Japanese partner Daiichi Life 8750.T cushioned the impact of market volatility due to the Iran war.
* JET2: Jet2 JET2.L said its summer bookings so far were up 8.8% from year ago levels as travel demand remains resilient amidst geopolitical tensions.
* ENQUEST: EnQuest ENQ.L narrowed its annual output forecast towards the lower end, blaming a five-week outage at its Magnus field caused by a third-party infrastructure disruption.
* SHELL: Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Shell SHEL.L, said it would acquire a 30% stake in the BP-operated BP.L Conifer exploration prospect in the Gulf of Mexico.
* GSK: HUTCHMED (China) 0013.HK said its unit had signed an exclusive development and licensing agreement with a GSK GSK.L subsidiary to develop and commercialise its investigational cancer drug, HMPL-A830.
* INVESTMENT FUNDS: An analysis by the UK financial watchdog found liquidity risks are concentrated in real estate funds, reinforcing the regulator's long-standing scrutiny of a sector where investors can withdraw money more quickly than underlying properties can be sold.
* OIL: Oil prices edged lower as investors weighed the uncertainty of renewed military strikes between the U.S. and Iran.
* GOLD: Gold rose as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields eased, while investors strapped in for U.S. nonfarm payrolls data that could shape expectations for the Federal Reserve's next policy move.
* METALS: Aluminium prices rose, buoyed by continued supply tightness and a slight improvement in economic risk sentiment, which also boosted other industrial metals.
* EX-DIVS: Antofagasta ANTO.L, Aviva AV.L, and Admiral Group ADML.L will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out on Thursday.
* 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
(Compiled by Neeshita Beura and Megha Kumari in Bengaluru)