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FTSE 100 up 0.16%, FTSE 250 up 1.2%

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Miners drive gains

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Big Yellow ( BYLOF ) soars as Blackstone considers buyout

(Updates after markets close)

Oct 13 (Reuters) - London stocks closed higher on

Monday, led by miners, after U.S. President Donald Trump

softened his rhetoric on trade tensions with China, worries

about which had sparked a sharp selloff on Friday.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.16%, having dropped

0.9% in the previous session after Trump threatened 100% tariffs

on Chinese imports, reigniting fears of a trade war between the

world's two largest economies.

However, over the weekend, Trump struck a more conciliatory

tone, posting that "it will all be fine" and that the U.S. had

no intention to "hurt" China.

Precious metal miners outperformed peers in

the market, closing up nearly 10% as gold broke through

$4,100 per ounce for the first time on Monday.

Fresnillo and Endeavour were the top

gainers in the FTSE 100, rising 9.1% and 11.3% respectively.

Industrial metal miners gained 3.1%, tracking

increases in copper prices.

Mining heavyweights Anglo American, Glencore ( GLCNF )

and Rio Tinto rose between 2% and 4.1%, helping

lift the blue-chip index further.

Investor sentiment was lifted further after Bank of England

policymaker Megan Greene, who joined most members of the

Monetary Policy Committee in voting to keep the central bank

rate at 4% last month, said interest rates would probably fall

further.

However, she cautioned that the broad weakening of inflation

pressures in Britain might be slowing.

Meanwhile, the latest round of mergers and acquisitions

lifted some mid-cap stocks, with the broader FTSE 250 index

up 1.2%.

U.S. private equity giant Blackstone said it was in

the early stages of considering a cash offer for Big Yellow

Group ( BYLOF ), sending the self-storage firm's shares up 15.4%.

Rival Safestore ( SFSHF ) also climbed 9.4% on the news.

Tritax Big Box added nearly 3.8% after Blackstone

agreed to buy a 9% stake in the UK real estate investment trust.

Tritax agreed to buy Blackstone's UK logistics assets for 1.04

billion pounds ($1.39 billion).

The broader real estate sector advanced 2.6%.

Among other individual stocks, Oxford Instruments ( OXINF )

fell 7.6%. The company said it expects first-half revenue to

drop and that the shortfall is unlikely to be recovered.