UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Dec. 29

(Adds FTSE open, company news items)
Dec 29 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index up 1.8% at 6,621 on
Tuesday, with futures FFIc1 up 1.7%.

* ADMIRAL: British insurer Admiral ADML.L said on Tuesday the price
comparison arm of Zoopla Property Group will buy its Penguin Portals and
Preminen businesses that include online portal Confused.com in a deal valued at
508 million pounds ($685.50 million). * THE HUT GROUP: E-commerce company Hut Group THG.L said on Tuesday it
would buy Dermstore, an online retailer owned by Target Corp TGT.N , for $350
million in cash as it looks to bolster the presence of its beauty brands in the
U.S. market. * BP: BP Plc BP.L said on Tuesday it has found no oil or gas at its
Ironbark-1 exploration well off Western Australia, in what had been seen as a
multi-trillion cubic feet gas prospect. * FINABLR: Finablr Plc FINF.L said on Tuesday its Chief Executive Officer
Bhairav Trivedi would step down from his role and be replaced by Robert Miller,
just weeks after the payments firm agreed to be bought by an Israeli-United Arab
Emirates consortium. * RYANAIR: Ryanair RYA.I on Tuesday confirmed it would restrict the voting
rights of British shareholders from Jan. 1 in a bid to ensure it remains
majority EU-owned and retain full licensing and flight rights in the bloc.
* PETROPAVLOVSK: Pavel Maslovskiy, the co-founder and former chief executive
at London-listed Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk POG.L , has been charged with
alleged embezzlement and detained pending trial, Interfax news agency quoted a
Moscow court as saying. * BREXIT: Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed Britain's trade deal with
the European Union as a new starting point for relations with the bloc in a call
with the President of the European Council Charles Michel on Monday.
* OIL: Oil rose on Tuesday, for the third time in four sessions, on
expectations for rising fuel demand as the United States may expand pandemic aid
payments and a final Brexit deal is set to stabilize trade between Europe and
the UK. * GOLD: Gold inched higher on Tuesday as a softer dollar underpinned the
metal, with market participants looking forward to a U.S. Senate vote on
increased pandemic aid. * The UK blue-chip index .FTSE gave back most of its gains to end
marginally higher as the pound's rise weighed on dollar-earners' shares on
Thursday. Domestically focused UK shares jumped about 1% in Thursday's shortened
trading session in anticipation that Britain and the European Union would
announce a trade pact to avoid a chaotic separation at the end of the year.
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