Stock index futures signal slight gains

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.37 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.44 percent at 5 a.m. EDT.

Media and entertainment stocks will be eyed after news that Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar was in discussions about buying the debt of struggling film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

Shares in BP gained 1.5 percent after the oil major said it had permanently sealed an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico that caused the United States' worst-ever oil spill.

On the M&A front, France's Safran unveiled a $1.1 billion deal to buy L-1 Identity Solutions and its core biometric identity business in a move that will also see BAE Systems extend its reach in the United States.

Bank of America Corp plans to test different pricing packages in a bid to recover some of the $4.3 billion in revenue it expects to lose from new restrictions on bank and credit card fees, the Financial Times said.

China Unicom <0728.HK> said it will launch Apple's latest iPhone in China on Saturday, as it attempts to claw back market share with a rollout of the U.S. company's popular smartphones.

Japan's Nissan Motor <7201.T>, which plans to double its capacity in China by 2012, is steering clear of General Motors' upcoming initial public offering and won't subscribe to its shares.

European stocks climbed 0.6 percent in morning trade, rising for the first time in 5 sessions, led by energy and mining shares such as BP , Total and Rio Tinto . Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

On the earnings front, investors were expecting results from Discover Financial Services and Lennar Corp., while on the macro front, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo issues its monthly housing market index. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 14 versus 13 in August.

The Nasdaq rose on Friday after reassuring results and an upbeat outlook from Oracle, with the broader market flat as the traditional trading volatility expected by the expiration of options failed to materialize.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 13.02 points, or 0.12 percent, to 10,607.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> added 0.93 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,125.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 12.36 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,315.61.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Hans Peters)