(Adds company news item and updates futures)
Dec 24 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures .FFIC1 were up 0.1%
pre-market on Tuesday.
* TESCO: Australian clothing retailer Cotton On Group on Tuesday said it is
investigating a Chinese supplier after British supermarket operator Tesco PLC
TSCO.L suspended ties with the same supplier due to fears of the use of forced
prison labour. * CENTAMIN: Centamin Plc CEY.L on Monday won approval to give its Canadian
suitor Endeavour Mining EDV.TO more time to make a firm takeover offer, as
shareholder pressure mounted on the London-listed gold miner to engage in talks.
* OIL: Oil prices edged higher in thin pre-Christmas trading after Russia's
energy minister said cooperation with OPEC to support the market would continue
and as analysts forecast a second weekly decline in U.S. crude inventories.
* GOLD: Gold prices rose to their highest in a month-and-a-half, as soft
economic data out of the United States and concerns about an interim Sino-U.S.
trade deal lent support to the safe-haven bullion.
* The UK blue-chip index closed 0.5% higher on Monday in holiday-thinned
trading, while midcaps hovered near all-time highs. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
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