LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - European equities were expected to edge lower in early trading on Tuesday, with weaker commodity prices impacted by a stronger U.S. dollar expected to hurt mining and energy stocks. Prices of major industrial metals including copper and nickel fell 0.4 to 1.1 percent, spot gold hovered near a three-month low and Brent crude traded around $100 a barrel after dropping below the level a day earlier for the first time in 16 months. At 0625 GMT, futures for the Euro STOXX 50, Britain's FTSE 100 , Germany's DAX and France's CAC were 0.2 to 0.5 percent lower. In the United States, the Dow and the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent respectively on Monday, with energy shares featuring among the worst decliners, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.4 percent on uncertainty over a Ukraine ceasefire and concerns about Scotland's independence vote later this month. "Sentiment isn't overly bullish and certainly not conducive to pushing the indices through their recent highs. The economic outlook from the continent still remains weak and the potential fallout from the Scottish Independence vote still drapes uncertainty over the UK," Jonathan Sudaria, dealer at Capital Spreads, said in a morning note. The rival campaigns in Scotland's fight over independence are running neck-and-neck nine days before the referendum, with a surge in support for those who wish to break away from the United Kingdom, a TNS poll showed on Tuesday. On the macroeconomic front, focus will be on U.S. chain stores data and UK industrial output numbers after figures from the British Retail Consortium showed on Tuesday that surging clothing and footwear sales helped UK retail sales accelerate sharply in August. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0546 GMT: LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 2,001.54 -0.31 % -6.17 NIKKEI 15773.3 0.43 % 68.19 MSCI ASIA EX-JP 511.97 -0.13 % -0.69 EUR/USD 1.2882 -0.11 % -0.0014 USD/JPY 106.24 0.21 % 0.2200 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.491 -- 0.02 10-YR BUND YLD 0.966 -- 0.02 SPOT GOLD $1,255.00 -0.04 % -$0.44 US CRUDE $92.79 0.14 % 0.13 > DOLLAR GAINS GROUND ON YEN, JAPAN SHARES TEST HIGHS > DOW, S&P 500 END LOWER FOLLOWING DROP IN ENERGY SHARES > NIKKEI RISES AS WEAK YEN LIFTS EXPORTERS; OIL SHARES UNDERPERFORM > BOND YIELDS STABILIZE ON FED STUDY, UKRAINE CEASEFIRE > FOREX-DOLLAR SETS FRESH 14-MTH HIGH ON FED STUDY, STERLING WOES > GOLD HOVERS NEAR 3-MTH LOW, DOLLAR STRENGTH WEIGHS > LONDON NICKEL SLIPS FROM TWO-MONTH HIGHS ON STRONGER DOLLAR > BRENT SLIPS BUT HOLDS ABOVE $100 ON OPEC OUTPUT CUT HOPES MACROECONOMIC DATA/EVENTS (GMT) : 0645 FR Trade 0830 GB Industrial Output 1145 US ICSC Chain Store 1255 US Redbook COMPANY NEWS: ABB Swiss engineering group ABB said on Tuesday it would buy back $4 billion shares, offering a sweetener to investors as it set out lower mid-term sales and profit targets in the face of modest economic growth. TELEFONICA DEUTSCHLAND, TELEFONICA The telecoms operator said it planned to raise 3.62 billion euros ($4.66 billion) via a capital increase to partially finance its acquisition of E-Plus, the German business of Dutch peer KPN. Separately, AT&T on Monday said Spain's Telefonica will license its home security technology for limited trials in Europe as the U.S. carrier hopes it has found a new way to profit from its nascent connected-home business. UBS A French appeals court will rule on Sept. 22 whether Swiss bank UBS must post bail of 1.1 billion euros (1.42 billion US dollar) in an investigation of charges that it helped wealthy French customers avoid tax, the bank's lawyer said on Monday. For more, click on GLAXOSMITHKLINE A U.S. anti-bribery probe into GlaxoSmithKline touched on the firm's Chinese consumer healthcare business in 2012, internal documents show, suggesting the drugmaker's compliance problems in China could go wider than previously revealed. ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND The state-backed bank aims to raise up to $4 billion from the share flotation of its U.S. bank Citizens Financial Group this month, it was announced on Monday, putting it on track to be the biggest U.S. bank share offering this year. BARCLAYS Barclays has cut 2,700 jobs in its investment bank this year as part of a plan unveiled in May to axe 7,000 positions over three years, the head of the business said on Monday. PARTNERS GROUP The asset manager said on Tuesday first-half net profit jumped 23 percent after a sharp rise in fund management fees, and backed its full-year targets for new client money. For more, click on EURAZEO French industrial laundry company Elis, 83 percent owned by investment company Eurazeo, said it planned a 1.35 billion euro ($1.74 billion) debt refinancing to go with its initial public offering, details of which it plans to outline later on Tuesday. ITV, BSKYB British free-to-air commercial broadcaster ITV wants to charge pay-TV rivals such as BSkyB and Virgin Media to carry its channels, saying such a move would give it more money to make programmes. ELECTROLUX The Swedish firm's deal to buy General Electric's appliances unit is likely to clear antitrust hurdles in the United States, with some asset sales possible, according to experts. GAMESA, IBERDROLA Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa said on Monday it had agreed to issue some 25.4 million new shares to raise funds for expansion within the onshore market, especially in emerging markets, and offshore. L'OREAL Chief Executive Jean-Paul Agon cut his forecast for full-year growth in the global cosmetics market to between 3 percent and 3.5 percent from between 3.5 percent and 4 percent in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper. SANOFI Vaccines division Sanofi Pasteur said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Menactra for booster vaccination against meningococcal disease in people aged 15 to 55 years. PUBLICIS The ad group announced the acquisition of design and branding agency Turner Duckworth, whose clients include consumer brands such as Coca-Cola, Visa, Miller, Oreo, Jacobs, Google, The Glenlivet, Samsung, Waitrose and Metallica, and which employs 70 staff in London and San Francisco. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
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