British stocks up slightly Thursday

LONDON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- British stocks rose on Thursday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up by 0.03 percent, or 2.20 points, to close at 7,622.88 points.

Rio Tinto, the international mining group, soared 1.54 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets and AstraZeneca increased by 1.20 percent and 1.07 percent respectively.

The British multinational telecommunications services company BT Group was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 2.52 percent. NMC Health, the multinational health care company, dropped 2.20 percent. Old Mutual, an international investment and banking group, dropped 1.27 percent. Enditem