(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window) * FTSE 100 up 0.1%, FTSE 250 adds 0.3% Aug 18 (Reuters) - London’s FTSE 100 rose on Wednesday, with precious metal miners and real estate stocks leading the gains, as cooling inflation helped allay concerns that the Bank of England could pull back its asset purchases sooner than expected. The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.1%. Precious metal miners and real estate shares rose between 0.4% and 0.7%. British inflation fell to the Bank of England’s 2% target in July in an unexpectedly sharp slowdown that economists said was most likely a blip, as the reopening of the economy after lockdown drives prices higher. Still, UK’s inflation remains to be considerably higher than the 0.4% level seen in February this year. The domestically-focussed mid-cap index added 0.3%, led by support from retailers and travel stocks . Persimmon, Britain’s No. 2 homebuilder, fell 0.5% even as it said its current forward sales were up about 9% from pre-pandemic levels. (Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.