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* FTSE 100 down 0.4%, FTSE 250 off 0.5%

Jan 18 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 dropped on Tuesday, with shares of consumer firms and precious metals' miners leading the decline, while improving employment conditions in the UK and rising U.S. Treasury yields signalled growing bets of tighter monetary policies.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 eased 0.4%. Precious miners and consumer focussed shares Diageo and British American Tobacco were the top drags.

The domestically focussed mid-cap index fell 0.5%.

British employers added a record 184,000 staff to their payrolls in December, showing little signs of a hit from the Omicron variant, taking total staff numbers to 1.4% above their level in February 2020 before the pandemic.

Asian equities and U.S. futures also took a hit after two-year U.S. Treasury yields topped 1% for the first time since February 2020 as investors braced for a U.S. rate rise as soon as March.

Among stocks, Rio Tinto fell 0.5% after it forecast slightly weaker-than-expected 2022 iron ore shipments, citing tight labour market conditions and production delays.

British online retail platform THG dropped 4% after it said its adjusted core earnings margin would fall short of market expectations due to adverse currency movements. (Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)