British stocks up 0.39 pct Friday

LONDON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- British stocks rose on Friday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up 29.83 points or 0.39 percent at 7,730.79 points.

EasyJet, the major British budget airline, soared 4.73 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. InterContinental Hotels Group and NMC Health rose by 2.58 percent and 2.56 percent, respectively.

The Europe's leading home improvement retailer Kingfisher was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 2.30 percent. Next, the British clothing and home products retailer, dropped 1.65 percent. The British multinational utility company Centrica dropped 1.38 percent. Enditem