By Sarah Jones June 17 (Bloomberg) -- European stock-index futures were little changed after the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed for a sixth day yesterday to a one-month high. Asian equities and U.S. futures retreated. BP Plc may follow its New York-traded securities higher after the company scrapped dividends and pledged asset sales to meet President Barack Obama’s demand for a $20 billion fund to help victims of the worst oil spill in U.S. history. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group fell in Sydney as copper retreated for a second day. Hochtief AG might be active after its Australian unit won contracts worth A$1.5 billion ($1.3 billion). Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark measure for the euro region, slipped 0.1 percent to 2,716 at 7:16 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index may open 13 points higher, according to IG Markets. “European markets are set to start the session in a mixed mood, carrying on with the general sentiment seen in Asia and an uneventful day on Wall Street,” said Melbourne-based Ben Potter, a market strategist at IG Markets. “Confirmation of actions being taken by BP may help investors in the oil sector see beyond the current crisis.” Debt Crisis The benchmark Stoxx 600 rose 0.1 percent yesterday to the highest level since May 13 as gains by insurers helped offset a slump in technology shares after Nokia Oyj cuts its forecasts. The gauge has rebounded 9.6 percent from its 2010 low on May 25 after Europe’s sovereign debt crisis pushed the benchmark gauge to its cheapest level relative to earnings in more than a year. In the U.S., the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.1 percent with a late-day rebound failing to extend the previous days 2.4 percent rally. Futures on the S&P 500 declined 0.5 percent today before reports on inflation and jobless claims and the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index also fell today, slipping 0.4 percent after a drop in U.S. housing starts sparked concern about the global economic recovery. BP’s American Depository Receipts climbed 1.4 percent yesterday after Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg met Obama at the White House and agreed on payments over four years to finance an independent body that will settle claims resulting from a damaged oil well that’s spewing as much as 60,000 barrels of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Risk of Default Halting the $10 billion-a-year dividend, reducing investments in drilling and selling oil and gas fields will do enough to ensure the company’s financial stability, Chief Financial Officer Byron Grote said yesterday. Credit swap contracts before the announcement showed investors pricing in a 39 percent risk of default within five years. BP shares may rise as much as 7.4 percent in London, according to BGC Partners, an inter-dealer broker. Shares of BHP, the world’s largest mining company, declined 1.3 percent to A$38.72 in Sydney and Rio Tinto, the third- biggest, lost 1.6 percent to A$70.20 as copper led base metals lower on the London Metal Exchange. Three-month copper on the LME fell as much as 2.1 percent to $6,510 a metric ton and traded at $6,525 at 12:02 p.m. in Singapore. Zinc, lead and nickel also fell. Separately, BHP and Rio Tinto agreed with Japanese steelmakers on iron ore prices of about $147 a ton for the July- to-September period, Nikkei English News reported, without saying how it got the information. The increase is about 23 percent higher than the previous quarter, Nikkei said. Coal Mine Hochtief might be active after Leighton Holdings Ltd. rose to a one-month high in Sydney trading after winning contracts including work on a coal mine expansion in Indonesia. The Australian company signed a six-year A$1.1 billion contract with PT Mahakam Sumber Jaya for its MSJ coal mine in East Kalimantan, while BHP awarded Leighton’s Thiess Services unit a A$405 million contract for remediation work at the former Newcastle steelworks in New South Wales state. Reports today in the U.S. may show the cost of living probably dropped in May for a second month and a gauge of the outlook for growth climbed, pointing to an expansion with little inflation, economists said. The consumer price index fell 0.2 percent after a 0.1 percent decline in April, according to the median forecast of 79 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Conference Board’s leading economic indicators, a measure of the outlook for the next three to six months, rose 0.4 percent in May, the 13th gain in the past 14 months, the survey showed. To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.

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