May 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is

seen opening lower on Thursday, with futures down 0.54%.

* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto said on Thursday

Chief Executive Officer Jakob Stausholm will step down later in

2025.

* BT: BT, Britain's biggest mobile and broadband

company, reported a slight increase in full-year core earnings

on Thursday even as its revenue slipped by 2%, helped by demand

for fibre connections and increasing efficiencies.

* JOHNSON MATTHEY ( JMPLF ): British chemicals firm Johnson Matthey ( JMPLF )

has agreed to sell its division that houses

technologies to make sustainable fuels to Honeywell

International ( HON ) for 1.8 billion pounds ($2.4 billion),

including debt.

* EASYJET ( EJTTF ): British airline easyJet said it was

seeing strong demand for flights and holidays and current summer

bookings were tracking ahead of last year, giving it confidence

it would meet consensus forecasts for annual profit.

* BP: BP on Thursday said it has entered into a

long-term liquefied natural gas sale and purchase agreement with

Zhejiang Energy.

* OIL: Oil prices were little changed on Thursday as

investors stayed cautious, focusing on renewed Iran-U.S. nuclear

talks, though unexpected builds in U.S. crude and fuel

inventories raised concerns about demand from the world's

largest oil consumer.

* GOLD: Gold prices rose to a two-week peak

* METALS: Copper prices in London edged higher.

* EX-DIVS: DCC, Whitbread ( WTBCF ), Kingfisher

and Bunzl ( BZLFF ) will trade without entitlement to its

latest dividend pay-out.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please

click on:

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines

(Reporting by Amna Mariyam and DhanushVignesh Babu in

Bengaluru)