March 26 - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening lower on Wednesday, with futures FFIc1 down 0.02%.

* BUDGET: British finance minister Rachel Reeves is likely to announce cuts to her spending plans in an attempt to show investors that she can be trusted to fix the public finances as growth falters.

* GILTS: British long-dated government bond yields rose again, nearing 25-year highs hit in January, a day before finance minister Rachel Reeves is to deliver a budget update speech.

* GREENCORE: British convenience food manufacturer Greencore GNC.L has increased its bid for rival Bakkavor Group BAKK.L, Bloomberg News reported.

* BARCLAYS: Barclays BARC.L has named Scott Schulte the global co-head of its investment grade syndicate, whose U.S. unit he had headed since October 2023, an internal memo showed.

* LLOYDS: Lloyd's LLOY.L insurer Chaucer has launched an international D&F property smart consortium with InsurX.

* SHELL: Shell SHEL.L CEO Wael Sawan said he expects to have updates from the arbitration process with Venture Global VG.N in the coming months.

* OIL: Oil prices edged higher amid the U.S. stepping up efforts to limit Venezuelan and Iranian exports and a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories.

* GOLD: Gold prices held steady ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans.

* METALS: Copper prices in London fell on looming tariffs, but sharper losses were averted on some weakness in the dollar.

* The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 0.3% on Tuesday, ending a three-session losing streak.

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

* 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 Simone Lobo in Bengaluru)

((Simone.Lobo@thomsonreuters.com; +919920570373;))