London pre-open: Stocks to rise after Wall St gains; UK GDP in focus

12th Nov 2026 07:36

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to gain at the open on Thursday following a strong session on Wall Street, as investors mulled the latest UK GDP data and braced for a deluge of corporate news.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 75 points higher.

Stocks in the US rallied overnight, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ending up 1.6% and 1.3% respectively after neocloud giant CoreWeave was boosted by solid third-quarter earnings, while Nvidia bounced back from recent losses.

On home shores, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK economy grew by 0.7% in the last quarter, in line with expectations.

The dominant services sector drove the growth in the three months to September. Output rose 0.9%, and helped offset a 0.7% slide in construction. Production output edged up 0.1%.

GDP expanded by 0.5% in the second quarter. Monthly GDP grew by 0.2%, compared to a downwardly revised no growth in August.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: "The economy grew robustly in the third quarter almost entirely due to strong and widespread growth in the services sector.

"Within services, computer programming again increased strongly, as it has all year, registering its fastest growth in the last three years.

"We continue to see evidence that AI linked businesses helped to boost this sector."

In corporate news, housebuilder Persimmon said it still expected to trade in line with expectations despite pressures on buyers and rising costs due to the war on Iran.

The company said total forward sales in the four months to 1 November were up 1% to £2.82bn. Persimmon said market conditions would remain challenging, reflecting continued affordability constraints, higher borrowing costs and uncertainty over build costs arising from the conflict in the Middle East.

Rolls-Royce announced a new £1.5bn share buyback programme and reiterated its confidence in long-term cash generation, citing strong demand across its civil aerospace, defence and power systems businesses.

The engine maker said it had substantially completed its previously announced £2.5bn buyback for 2026 and would now launch an interim £1.5bn repurchase programme, to be completed before its full-year results in February. The move forms part of Rolls-Royce's broader £7bn to £9bn shareholder returns programme running from 2026 to 2028.