July 20

July 20 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 is seen opening 23-32 pointshigher on Monday, or as much as 0.7 percent, tracking strength in Asia on strongcorporate earnings and a last minute $3 billion rescue of U.S. lender CIT Group(CIT.N). CIT Group's board signed off on a deal late on Sunday to receive $3 billion in rescue funding, sources said, as it tries to avoid becoming the latest casualty of the global financial crisis.

This, combined with growing optimism about second quarter earnings helped Asian stocks rise to a 10-month high, with the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan .MAIPJ0000PUS gaining 2.2 percent to reach its highest level since the aftermath of Lehman Brother's demise. Tentative signs of life for the UK housing market come from a survey from Rightmove which, the property website said, indicated that there are growing signs that price falls have bottomed out.

The survey showed asking prices for homes in England and Wales in July are an average of 3.1 percent lower than a year ago but that prices have risen for five months out of seven this year.The bank has picked 4-5 investment banks in its first round of selecting sponsorships and underwriters in its plans to launch shares in China, Apple Daily said on Monday citing unidentified sources.