British stocks down 0.45 pct Wednesday

LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- British stocks decreased on Wednesday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index down by 0.45 percent, or 32.99 points, to close at 7,291.01 points.

DCC, an international sales, marketing and support services group, soared 1.68 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. GlaxoSmithKline and Smurfit Kappa Group increased by 1.42 percent and 1.40 percent, respectively.

Kingfisher, a British multinational retailing company, was the worst performer in the blue chips, with its shares losing 6.36 percent. Persimmon, a British housebuilding company, dropped 4.03 percent. Taylor Wimpey, a British based housebuilding company, fell 3.46 percent. Enditem