LONDON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- British shares rose on Wednesday, with the benchmark FTSE 100 Index up 0.38 percent, or 27.23 points, to close at 7,247.61 points.
Shares of Hikma Pharmaceuticals advanced 3 percent, topped the gainers of the blue chips.
Whitbread was up 2.2 percent, Burberry Group up 1.8 percent, and Severn Trent up 0.8 percent, respectively.
Pearson, an international publishing group, led the losers by plunging 23.2 percent, after it warned of a big fall in sales in its U.S. education business.
