(Adds company news items)
Dec 27 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 futures .FFIc1 were up 0.98 percentahead of the cash market open on Thursday.
* EARTHPORT: Visa IncV.N is buying Earthport PlcEPO.L , which providescross-border payment services to banks and businesses, for 198 million pounds($250.6 million) in cash, a unit of the U.S.-based payments network said onThursday.
* RIO TINTO: Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto RIO.L , RIO.AX is preparingto take its Iron Ore Company of Canada business public in the first half of 2019by dual-listing it in New York and Toronto, people familiar with the situationtold Reuters.
* GOLD: Gold rose on Thursday as global growth worries and volatility instock markets boosted demand for the safe-haven metal, but gains were capped bya sharp rebound in equities.
* OIL: Oil fell on Thursday after soaring 8 percent in the previous session,as worries over a glut in crude supply and concerns over a faltering globaleconomy pressured prices even as a stock market surge offered support.
* The UK blue chip index closed down 0.5 percent on Monday as world stocksfell on reports that U.S. President Donald Trump privately discussed firing thehead of the Federal Reserve and a partial U.S. government shutdown.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial TimesPRESS/FT
> Other business headlines PRESS/GB (Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru) ((tanishaa.nadkar@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8067491691; Reuters Messaging:tanishaa.nadkar.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
