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

opening higher on Wednesday, with futures up 0.2%.

* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto, said it had signed a

five-year deal with Australian bioenergy firm SuperChar to

supply bio pellets to the miner's alumina refineries in

Gladstone.

Rio Tinto has agreed to transfer customers from its aluminium

metal matrix composites (MMC) business to Canada's Cymat

Technologies ( CYMHF ), as the world's largest iron ore producer

exits the business, Cymat ( CYMHF ) said.

* SHELL, BP: Egypt is in talks with energy majors including

Shell, TotalEnergies and BP to buy 15

to 18 cargoes of liquefied natural gas per month for at least

three years, three trading and industry sources familiar with

the matter told Reuters.

* PAY: Pay settlements by British employers held steady in the

three months to June despite concerns about the Iran war and

economic uncertainty, according to Brightmine data.

* COMMODITIES: Oil prices extended gains, gold rose to a

two-week high, and Shanghai copper rose to a seven-week high.

* FTSE: Britain's FTSE 100 closed higher on Tuesday, aided by

gains in banking and energy stocks, while shares of Mitie Group

soared after outsourcer OCS Group's £3.1 billion buyout deal.

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

JD Wetherspoon Q4 trading update

Fresnillo Q2 Production

update

Segro ( SEGXF ) PUSU deadline

Greencore ( GNCGF ) Q3 trading update

Pensionbee ( PBNYF ) Q2 trading update

Hochschild Q2 Production

update

Liontrust Trading update

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please

click on:

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines

(Compiled by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru)