UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Sept. 24

(Adds company news items and futures)
Sept 24 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening up 24
points at 7,350 on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures
.FFIc1 up 0.20% ahead of cash market open.
* A.G.BARR: British soft drinks maker A.G.Barr BAG.L posted lower
first-half profit on Tuesday as sales dipped due to higher pricing, along with
brand challenges in its Rockstar energy and Rubicon juice drinks. * CLOSE BROTHERS: Merchant bank Close Brothers Group Plc CBRO.L on Tuesday
posted lower annual profit and said Chief Executive Officer Preben Prebensen
will leave the company, as it faces a downturn in its market-maker business
Winterflood. * CARD FACTORY: Card Factory CARDC.L reported a lower first-half pretax
profit on Tuesday, hurt by higher inventory costs, as it built a stockpile of
greeting cards and gifts ahead of Brexit and expected seasonal purchases.
* THOMAS COOK: After the collapse of Thomas Cook left hundreds of thousands
of passengers reliant on the British state to repatriate them, Prime Minister
Boris Johnson questioned whether bosses should have paid themselves so much
ahead of its demise. * GOLD: Gold prices were steady on Tuesday, having risen to a more than
two-week peak in the previous session on global slowdown fears and tensions in
the Middle East, while an improved Sino-U.S. trade tone weighed on the yellow
metal.
* OIL: Oil prices eased on Tuesday as weak manufacturing data from Europe
and Japan focused market attention on the gloomy outlook for demand and away
from uncertainty around supply disruptions in Saudi Arabia.
* The UK blue chip index fell 0.3% on Monday as weak German economic data
weighed on banking shares, offsetting a surge in travel operators and airlines
after the collapse of the world's oldest travel firm Thomas Cook. * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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