MILAN (Reuters) - UK blue chip stocks rose on Wednesday, helped by gains in Marks & Spencer (>> Marks and Spencer Group Plc) after its solid results and by advances in energy stocks, although weaker miners kept a lid on the British market.

The FTSE <.FTSE> rose 0.4 percent to 7,514.90 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 <.FTMC> index added 0.15 percent, just shy of a fresh record high hit on Tuesday.

The index's gains were capped by losses in basic resources stocks after a sell-off in commodities following Moody's debt downgrade on China, a big global metals consumer.

"The heavy sell-off in commodities following China's debt rating downgrade has taken its toll," Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at LCG, said in a note.

Rio Tinto (>> Rio Tinto plc) declined 0.5 percent and precious metal miners Randgold (>> Randgold Resources Limited) and Fresnillo (>> Fresnillo Plc) fell 1.5 and 0.4 percent respectively. Glencore (>> Glencore PLC) lost 0.1 percent after saying it had made an informal approach to U.S. grains trader Bunge (>> Bunge Ltd) to discuss a "a possible consensual business combination." But Bunge responded by saying it was not in talks with the mining and commodities group.

Mid-cap miner Acacia Mining (>> Acacia Mining PLC) fell 29.7 percent, its weakest day ever, as Tanzania's mining minister was fired following an investigation into possible undeclared exports by mining companies to evade tax.

Tanzania President John Magufuli said the investigation report revealed that Acacia, which denied wrongdoing, declared the presence of gold, copper and silver in its mineral sand exports but did not declare other precious metals in the consignments.

Marks & Spencer (>> Marks and Spencer Group Plc) rose 1.5 percent, reversing earlier losses that followed the release of results showing a 10 percent drop in earnings and sliding sales in the latest quarter. The retailer said that in spite of the weaker quarter, improving profit margins and steady market share showed its struggling clothing business was on the mend.

"We think that consensus profit forecasts (for 2017-18) will hold fairly steady today, albeit with improving trends in clothing margins suggesting some potential upside for the year," said RBC Europe analyst Richard Chamberlain, who has an "outperform" rating on the stock.

But a disappointing update hit Kingfisher (>> Kingfisher plc), which fell 7 percent. The home improvements retailer reported a 0.6 percent fall in first-quarter sales from stores open for more than a year, due to weak sales in France, where the firm remains cautious about its prospects.

Analysts at UBS had estimated sales from stores open for more than a year would increase by 1 percent, while analysts at Davy expected a rise of 0.3 percent.

Engineering firm Babcock (>> Babcock International Group PLC) fell 1 percent after its full-year results, while Medclinic (>> Mediclinic International PLC) was down 6.4 percent, after reporting a 19 percent drop in underlying full-year earnings as regulations in the Middle East weighed.

Providing support to the FTSE were gains among healthcare stocks with AstraZeneca (>> AstraZeneca plc) and Shire (>> Shire PLC), as well as strength among energy stocks with BP (>> BP plc) up 0.9 percent.

Among midcaps, TalkTalk (>> Talktalk Telecom Group PLC) was a heavy faller, down 3.2 percent after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to "sell" from "neutral" on valuation grounds, while Dixons Carphone (>> Dixons Carphone PLC) rose 4.7 percent after beating fourth quarter trading forecasts.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

By Danilo Masoni