British stocks up 1.61 pct Tuesday

LONDON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- British stocks rose on Tuesday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up 111.19 points or 1.61 percent, at 6,999.88 points.

Ferguson, a heating and plumbing products business, soared 6.70 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. GlaxoSmithKline and Shire rose by 4.88 percent and 3.94 percent, respectively.

Next, the British clothing and home products retailer, was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 1.60 percent. Randgold Resources, a major multinational metal company, dropped 1.33 percent. Fresnillo, an international mining group, dropped 0.95 percent. Enditem