By Kit Rees and Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) - UK shares advanced on Wednesday as Kingfisher (LON:KGF), Europe's largest home improvement retailer, beat profit expectations and investors dipped back into the travel sector.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.1 percent at 6,198.50 points by 1327 GMT, slightly underperforming the broader European market.
Kingfisher, which trades as B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and as Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, gained 4.1 percent on the back of a forecast-beating 0.3 percent rise in annual profit. It had announced a strategy overhaul in January.
"There was some initial disdain for Kingfisher’s turnaround plan but today’s results confirm the company has gotten a head start over its rival Homebase," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets.
Sky Plc (LON:SKYB) also rose 2 percent after investment bank Exane BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) upgraded its rating on the stock to "outperform" from "neutral".
Investors bought back into travel stocks, which recovered after a sell-off in the previous session following deadly attacks in Brussels.
Shares in cruise operator Carnival (LON:CCL), International Hotels Group, tour operator TUI and airlines easyJet (LON:EZJ) and IAG (LON:ICAG) were all up between 0.7 percent and 1.9 percent.
Mid-cap Thomas Cook, which was also pulled lower on Tuesday by news of a fall in bookings in the previous session, regained ground to trade up 2.9 percent.
"You have the usual bit of aggressive bargain-hunting coming through in these sectors, (they were) quite heavily sold down yesterday," IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
Miners Randgold (LON:RRS) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES) were both down 3.1 percent investors dumped gold, a safe-haven asset.
Mid-cap William Hill slumped 12.3 percent, set for its biggest daily loss in 7-1/2 years after issuing a profit warning for 2016.
Rival betting group Ladbrokes (LON:LAD) fell 2.3 percent, while blue-chip Paddy Power Betfair, whose COO Andy McCue is to leave the company, retreated 1.9 percent.