Ashmore top decliner on FTSE 250
Precious metal miners lead gains
St. James39;s Place top decliner on FTSE 100
FTSE 100 down 0.1, FTSE 250 off 0.5

Oct 13 Reuters UK39;s FTSE 100 fell on Friday, but was set for weekly gains, as investors were spooked after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that monetary policy will continue to be restrictive.

The commodityfocussed FTSE 100 was down 0.1, while the midcap index FTSE 250 lost 0.5. Both indexes are on track to mark their best weekly performance in four weeks.

BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said on Friday that future interest rate decisions by the central bank would continue to be tight after officials voted to leave borrowing costs on hold last month by the tightest of margins.

The yield on the UK benchmark bond edged higher after Bailey39;s comments but remained lower for the day at 4.402.

Among sectors, precious metal miners added 2 to lead sectoral gains as gold prices climbed amid tensions in the Middle East and hopes that U.S. interest rates may have peaked.

Although higher dollar and yields would typically weaken gold, the geopolitical concerns are pushing gold higher, said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at GCFX.

Industrial metal miners also advanced 0.6 following a rise in copper prices.

Mining stocks were also supported by a softer dollar and lower Treasury yields.

Heavyweight oil and gas shares were up 1.4, as oil prices rose about 1 per barrel on growing supply concerns.

Iran hinted at…