News: RIO UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Dec. 24

Dec 24 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures index FFIc1 was up 0.58% on Thursday.

• VODAFONE: India has challenged in Singapore an international arbitration court's verdict against it over a $2 billion tax claim involving Vodafone Group Plc VOD.L , a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
• RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO) and Indigenous Australians said they had taken initial steps towards rebuilding their relationship after the miner destroyed sacred Aboriginal caves in Western Australia in May.
• BREXIT: Britain and the European Union were on the cusp of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday, swerving away from a chaotic finale to the Brexit split that has dealt a blow to the 70-year attempt to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two.
• GOLD: Gold prices rose as the dollar eased and investors bet on further U.S. stimulus though President Donald Trump threatened to veto a long-awaited pandemic relief bill.
• OIL: Oil climbed for a second day, in light holiday trade as a drawdown in U.S. stockpiles of crude and gasoline raised demand hopes, while hints of an imminent Brexit deal raised investors' risk appetite.
• The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed 0.7% higher on Wednesday although a jump in the pound kept the dollar earners' gains in check GBP/ . The domestically focused FTSE 250 .FTMC , considered a proxy to Brexit sentiment, ended at session high, up 1.7% after a senior European diplomat told Reuters that a UK-EU agreement was in "final stages"
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