July 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening higher on Wednesday, with futures FFIc1 up 0.2%.

* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto RIO.AX, RIO.L 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 CYM.V, as the world's largest iron ore producer exits the business, Cymat said.

* SHELL, BP: Egypt is in talks with energy majors including Shell SHEL.L, TotalEnergies TTEF.PA and BP BP.L 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	JDW.L	Q4 trading update
Fresnillo	FRES.L	Q2 Production update
Segro	SGRO.L	PUSU deadline
Greencore	GNC.L	Q3 trading update
Pensionbee	PBEE.L	Q2 trading update
Hochschild	HOCM.L	Q2 Production update
Liontrust	LIO.L	Trading update

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/

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