The Bank of England denied a request by Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's authoritarian ruler, to withdrawal $1.2 billion in gold from the bank, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The move comes after top U.S. officials lobbied U.K. counterparts to cut off the Maduro regime from its overseas assets. The Venezuelan central bank holds $8 billion in foreign reserves, the report said. On Friday, April gold gcj9 settled at $1,304.20 an ounce, up $18.30, or 1.4%.