British stocks up 0.20 pct Friday

LONDON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- British stocks rose on Friday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up 15.70 points, or 0.20 percent at 7,778.64 points.

GKN, an automotive and aerospace components company, soared 26.24 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. Smiths Group and Marks & Spencer Group by 5.39 percent and 2.66 percent, respectively.

The multinational health care company NMC Health was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 1.96 percent. Shire, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, dropped 1.82 percent. British American Tobacco dropped 1.62 percent. Enditem