11:49 AM EST, 11/12/2026 (MT Newswires) -- London's FTSE 100 gained 0.29% on Thursday closing as investors welcomed positive corporate and economic growth updates. The UK's gross domestic product increased 0.2% month over month in September, following a revised flat reading in August, the Office for National Statistics said. Analysts expected no change during the month. In the three months to September, the economy expanded 0.7% on a quarterly basis, in line with market expectations, after a 0.5% gain in the prior three-month period. "For the Bank of England, the strength in GDP this year is evidently beginning to play a bigger role in its decision-making," ING said. "It's one of the reasons we expect another rate hike in February. But despite this economic resilience, there are still clear signs that monetary policy is having a restrictive effect... That's why, if we're right that inflation starts to look less problematic by next summer, we think the Bank is likely to return to rate cuts before the end of 2027 - or early 2028 at the latest." In corporate news, Burberry Group (BRBY.L) climbed 7.73% to the top of the blue-chip index after turning an adjusted profit before tax of 27 million pounds sterling in the fiscal first half, compared with a loss of 11 million pounds a year ago. The luxury fashion house's revenue rose 6% year over year, while guidance for wholesale revenue growth in fiscal 2027 was upgraded to a range of 10% to 12% from a high single-digit percentage. 3i Group (III.L) shares rose 5.81% after the investment company launched a further buyback program worth up to 750 million pounds and boosted its stake in its flagship investment, Action, by 2.1% to 67.5%. Rolls-Royce (RR.L), up 2.12%, launched an accelerated program to repurchase shares for up to 1.5 billion pounds, on top of its ongoing 2.5 billion-pound share buyback. The aerospace, defense, and power systems company also affirmed its expectations for an underlying operating profit of between 4.7 billion pounds and 4.9 billion pounds in 2026. "Given our strong progress this year, we will revisit our mid-term targets at our Full Year results in February, as previously communicated," Chief Executive Tufan Erginbilgic said. "We are also accelerating the phasing of our share buyback. Today we are announcing an interim share buyback of GBP1.5bn. This will be completed by our Full Year results on 25 February 2027 and forms part of our existing GBP7bn-GBP9bn share buyback programme across 2026 to 2028. This reflects our continued confidence in sustainable free cash flow growth driven by our transformation and the significant value creation we continue to see ahead."

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