LONDON: UK shares advanced on Wednesday as Kingfisher, 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 6,200.76 points by 0923 GMT, slightly underperforming the broader European market.
"Given that the long weekend is almost upon us, many will be unwilling to establish any new positions which could well lead to some downside in the coming days," London Capital Group head analyst, Brenda Kelly, said in a note.
Kingfisher, which trades as B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France and other markets, gained 3.4 percent on the back of a forecast-beating 0.3 percent rise in annual profit.
Sky Plc also rose 2.7 percent after investment bank Exane BNP Paribas 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, International Hotels Group, tour operator TUI and airlines easyJet and IAG were all up between 0.3 percent and 2.5 percent.
Mid-cap Thomas Cook, which was also pulled lower by news of a fall in bookings in the previous session, regained ground to trade up 2.6 percent.
"You have the usual bit of aggresive bargain-hunting coming through in these sectors, (they were) quite heavily sold down yesterday," IG analyst, Chris Beauchamp, said.
Gold miners Randgold and Fresnillo were down 2.4 percent to 1.9 percent respectively as investors dumped so-called "safe-haven" assets.
Mid-cap William Hill slumped 13.4 percent, set for its biggest daily loss in seven and a half years after issuing a profit warning for 2016.
Rival betting group Ladbrokes fell 4.5 percent, while blue-chip Paddy Power Betfair, whose COO Andy McCue is to leave the company, retreated 1.8 percent.
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