Britain's FTSE edges higher though miners drop

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* FTSE 100 up 0.3 pct

* Miners drop ahead of Fed rate decision

* Standard Life falls after downgrade

By Kit Rees

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose onTuesday, though gains were capped as commodities-related stocksstumbled ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting.

The blue chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.3 percent at6,907.53 points by 0951 GMT, mirroring gains in the broaderEuropean market.

While the rally was broad-based, with ITV,International Consolidated Airlines and Burberry among top risers, miners were the biggest fallers.

Shares in Randgold Resources and Fresnillo dropped 1.9 percent and 2.5 percent respectively as the price ofgold slipped ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest ratedecision on Wednesday. Investors are expecting a hike ininterest rates for the first time in 2016.

Likewise a drop in the price of copper hit shares inAntofagasta, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Glencore, which fell between 1.7 to 2.8 percent.

Commodities prices tend to come under pressure when realinterest rates rise as investors put capital intohigher-yielding assets.

"It is pretty much priced in by the market the we will see ahike in (U.S.) rates. This is likely to cause relative strengthin the dollar and that is quite negative for commodities,"Jonathan Roy, advisory investment manager at Charles HanoverInvestments, said.

"They've had quite a strong run, the miners of late, so ifwe see a strengthening dollar and a weakening commodity price inthe face of a rate hike, that's going to be slightly negativefor the miners in the short-term."

Insurer Standard Life was also among the top fallers,down 1.4 percent after Deutsche Bank cuts its rating on thestock to "hold" from "buy", citing concerns about marginpressure and GARS outflows.

Among the mid caps, cyber security firm NCC Group fell more than 7 percent after the firm cut its 2017 EBITDAforecast, with analysts at Jefferies pointing to projectcancellations as impacting profitability.

"These were substantial, high-margin projects that were alsoexpected to yield considerable additional workloads for NCCduring the course of the year. Hence, the pain inflicted by thecancellations, all for unrelated reasons, is disproportionatelyhigh," analysts at Jefferies said in a note. (Reporting by Kit Rees; Editing by Angus MacSwan)