British stocks up 0.16 pct Thursday

LONDON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- British stocks rose on Thursday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up 11.58 points or 0.16 percent at 7,328.92 points.

Shire, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, soared 5.89 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. Rentokil Initial and WPP rose by 4.51 percent and 3.58 percent, respectively.

British American Tobacco, a British multinational tobacco company, was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 5.43 percent. Imperial Brands, an multinational tobacco company, dropped 2.89 percent. Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company, dropped 2.17 percent. Enditem