* FTSE 100 up 0.8 pct
* Kingfisher posts solid start to the year
* RBS leads banks higher
* Imperial Brands boosted by Barclays upgrade
* Coca-Cola HBC hit by stake sale (Adds detail and quote, updates prices)
By Kit Rees and Alistair Smout
LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose onTuesday, helped by a well-received trading statement fromKingfisher and a rally in banking stocks.
The FTSE 100 index was up 50.70 points, or 0.8percent, at 6,187.13 points by 1135 GMT, having opened the daylower.
Kingfisher rose 2.8 percent, among top gainers after theowner of the B&Q chain reported a 3.6 percent increase inlike-for-like sales in the first three months of its financialyear. Traders said its UK and French divisions had performedbetter than expected.
"In its first half-year, it is a little early to be judgingthe returns from the five-year 'One Kingfisher' strategy butmanagement is pleased with progress so far," David Stoddart,analyst at Edison Investment Research, said in a note.
Royal Bank of Scotland was also a notable gainer,rising 2.7 percent after a U.S. appeals court voided a Bank ofAmerica Corp mortgage penalty.
Investors said this could mean that the U.S. Department ofJustice might now ease its stance on mortgage settlements. RBSis preparing for the biggest fines in its history to settle U.S.investigations into claims it misled investors inmortgage-backed securities.
Analysts also said that the UK banking sector,which rose 1.6 percent, was boosted by readacross from a 9percent rise in underlying profit at Nationwide BuildingSociety, Britain's biggest customer-owned lender, as mortgagelending increased to volumes last seen before the 2007-08financial crisis.
"UK banks are once again in demand, with a reported rise inmortgage activity at Nationwide further enhancing theattractiveness of names like RBS," Chris Beauchamp, seniormarket analyst at IG, said in a note.
Tobacco firm Imperial Brands rose 2.2 percent,benefiting from an upgrade by Barclays to "overweight" from"equal weight".
"Imperial is executing strongly. Organic sales momentum isimproving and margin/cash generation increases underpin (atleast) 10 percent dividend growth," analysts at Barclays said ina note.
"Moreover, we are increasingly confident margins willsurprise to the upside and that the U.S. is performing ahead ofexpectations."
The top faller was Coca-Cola HBC, down 3.8 percentafter a shareholder said it was going to sell its 1.5 percentstake in the bottling company.
ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UKstock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia formatfrom 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it willinclude the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service,Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research andmarket zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves willcontinue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue toprovide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.
If you have any thoughts, suggestions orfeedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.
Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Keith Weir and SusanFenton)
Kingfisher (KGF)
