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March 3 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening 41 points higher at 6,654 on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers.

* BUDGET: Finance minister Rishi Sunak will promise on Wednesday to do "whatever it takes", including a five-month extension of Britain's huge jobs rescue plan, to steer the economy through what he hopes will be the final months of COVID restrictions.

* RIO: Rio Tinto said its chair and a board director would step down, bowing to investor pressure over the destruction of two ancient Aboriginal rock shelters for an iron ore mine last year in Western Australia.

* ASTRAZENECA: The UK will receive 10 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the UK government said in a statement on Tuesday.

* BP: BP's UK chairman Peter Mather will step down at the end of the year after a decade in the role, the energy company announced on Tuesday.

* AMIGO: Complaints about guarantor loans by companies such as Amigo soared last year, eclipsing grievances over payment protection insurance (PPI) that have dominated for more than a decade, Britain's Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) said.

* LISTINGS: Britain will "modernise" its listing rules to attract more high-growth and "blank cheque" SPAC company flotations to London, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.

* NATIONAL GRID: Britain's top-up auction to ensure enough electricity capacity for 2021/22 has cleared at 45 pounds ($62.86) per kilowatt (kW) per year, National Grid said on Tuesday.

* GOLD: Gold prices fell, as expectations that U.S. Treasury yields would move higher on further economic stimulus kept non-yielding bullion under pressure.

* OIL: Oil prices were down in early trade, extending several days of losses, amid uncertainty over how much supply producing countries will push to restore to the market at a meeting this week while the coronavirus pandemic persists.

* London's FTSE 100 rose on Tuesday, led by gains in mining and financial stocks, although the domestically-oriented midcap index tripped on the eve of finance minister Rishi Sunak's new budget plan.

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

PageGroup FY results

Avast FY results

Vivo Energy FY results

Persimmon FY results

Polymetal International FY results

Biffa Trading statement

IPF FY results

DS Smith Q3 Trading Statement

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

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

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(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru)

((shanima.a@thomsonreuters.com; Direct: +91 7760347399;))