* FTSE 100 up 0.6 pct; FTSE 250 up 0.1 pct
* Investors await key Brexit deal vote
* Consumer, energy stocks top supports to main index
* Provident Financial sinks after profit alert
* Small-cap Flybe tanks (Adds news items, updates to closing prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija M
Jan 15 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 rose on Tuesday on hopes Beijing will take steps to stabilise a slowing economy, while mid-caps edged up in choppy trade as investors remained cautious ahead of a crunch vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE closed up 0.6 percent, while the more domestically-exposed FTSE 250 .FTMC wobbled back and forth through the session but ended 0.1 percent higher.
Still, volumes on the UK indexes were below their long-term averages. The neighbouring Irish bourse .ISEQ , a barometer of Brexit fears, fell 0.5 percent.
British lawmakers appeared set to reject May's plan, and a heavy defeat could force her to delay Britain's scheduled departure from the European Union on March 29. It could also open up other options ranging from a second referendum to leaving the EU with no deal.
"Of course, we could get a situation where the vote gets passed, but given the polling numbers that looks about as likely as finding a unicorn," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
Raymond James analyst Chris Bailey said "the market is still a slave to Brexit newsflow and clearly multiple future scenarios exist, albeit that a 'soft' or delayed Brexit has become much more likely than the more apocalyptic 'no-deal' scenario."
A stronger dollar aided more internationally-inclined stocks such as GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L , Diageo DGE.L and Reckitt Benckiser RB.L to be among the top boosts to the FTSE 100, whose members make about 70 percent of their income abroad.
UK stocks remained the least favoured among fund managers, a Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Merrill Lynch's January fund manager survey found. majors and miners .FTNMX1770 also supported the main index after China signalled more growth-boosting steps and oil prices rose amid supply cuts.
Homebuilders, among the most exposed to Brexit uncertainty, ended in the red, with Barratt BDEV.L dropping 1.8 percent. Britain's second-biggest housebuilder Persimmon PSN.L also fell, despite a bright trading update.
Gambling firms fell after the U.S. Department of Justice hinted at wider restrictions on all gambling on the internet. 888 Holdings 888.L tumbled 7.5 percent and GVC GVC.L was the biggest faller on the main index.
Earnings drove direction among the top mid-cap movers.
Spirent Communications SPT.L surged 14 percent to its highest level in nearly five-and-a-half years after forecasting full-year profits that exceeded expectations.
But profit warnings sent sub-prime lender Provident Financial PFG.L plunging 20 percent to its worst day since August 2017 and Spire Healthcare SPI.L down 12 percent. fashion retailer Boohoo BOOH.L shed 9 percent as investors chose to focus on a lack of forecast for higher profit margins over a hike in full-year sales guidance.
Flybe FLYB.L sank 40 percent on the small-cap index. Britain's biggest domestic airline agreed to sell some assets and got a revised bridge loan in relation to a takeover offer by a consortium.
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