British stocks up 0.29 pct Thursday

LONDON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- British stocks rose on Thursday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up by 0.29 percent, or 20.84 points, to close at 7,234.81 points.

Fresnillo, a Mexican-based precious metals mining company, soared 4.63 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. Johnson Matthey and BAE Systemsl increased by 3.29 percent and 3.28 percent, respectively.

Standard Life Aberdeen, an investment company, was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 7.53 percent.

DCC, an international sales, marketing and support services group, dropped 1.62 percent. Severn Trent, a water company, fell 1.56 percent. Enditem