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FTSE 100 Index up 0.3 pct

Xinhua, April 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

FTSE 100 Index, Britain's benchmark stock market gauge, Wednesday increased by 0.30 percent, or 21.52 points, to 7,096.78, as the European Central Bank (ECB) kept its monetary stimulus policy unchanged.

The ECB announced Wednesday its governing council had decided to keep its benchmark interest rates unchanged.

Mario Draghi, ECB's president, stressed that the central bank would continue to implement the quantitative easing policy until the euro zone's inflation rate returned to the target level.

Sports Direct International's share price increased by 3.80 percent, topping the gainers of the blue chips.

Sainsbury, CRH, Babcock International and Hargreaves Lansdown advanced by 3.53 percent, 3.00 percent, 2.68 percent and 2.64 percent respectively.

Bunzl led the top losers of the blue chips with a share price drop of 2.62 percent, followed by Hikma Pharmaceuticals (2.34 percent), International Consolidated Airlines Group (2.02 percent), Reed Elsevier (1.63 percent) and easyJet (1.44 percent).

Trading volume in FTSE 100 companies was slightly smaller than the 30-day average. The index has gained 9.45 percent so far this year in terms of U.S. dollars. Endit