British stocks traded lower on Monday afternoon, while the pound edged higher, crossing the $1.34 level, after UK GDP data showed the economy maintained its growth rate in the final third-quarter 2025 figures, while European markets traded mixed.
of 1241 GMT, the blue-chip index FTSE 100 fell about 0.4% and the British GBP/USD rose 0.4% against the dollar.
DAX index in Germany was flat, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.3%.
UK round up The UK economy maintained its growth rate of 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the final third quarter 2025 GDP figures released Monday, matching earlier estimates.
While the headline figure remained unchanged, the composition of growth showed a notable shift toward the private sector. The detailed breakdown revealed less reliance on government spending than previously thought.
Government investment was revised significantly downward from an initial estimate of 3.6% growth to a 1.8% decline, indicating that private sector activity played a more substantial role in supporting the modest economic expansion during the quarter.
In company news, Defence Holdings PLC (LON:ALRT) shares jumped 14% on Monday after the company released its interim results for the six months ending September 30, 2025.
The stock price increase followed the company’s announcement that its sovereign-AI program, Project Ixian, has reached the final stages of contract formalization with its first customer.
This development represents a significant milestone for Defence Holdings as Project Ixian transitions from the development phase toward operational integration.
3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads. Separately, Rank Group PLC (LON:RNK) announced Monday that its Spanish businesses, Enracha and Yo, have been victims of a payment fraud totaling approximately €7.1 million.
The company has reported the incident to relevant law enforcement agencies and is supporting their investigations. Rank is also conducting its own internal investigation with assistance from an external law firm.
In other news, Harbour Energy PLC (LON:HBR) announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire LLOG Exploration Company LLC for $3.2 billion, strategically entering the deepwater US Gulf of America.
The deal includes $2.7 billion in cash and $0.5 billion in Harbour’s voting ordinary shares, with closing expected in late Q1 2026.
GSK plc (LON:GSK) has reached an agreement with the U.S. government to reduce prescription medicine costs for American patients, particularly for its respiratory treatments that serve over 40 million Americans with asthma and COPD.
The agreement fulfills all four requests made by President Trump in his July 31 letter, including lowering prices of certain medicines in Medicaid.
Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) is partnering with China’s Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) to test robotaxis in the UK, with trials scheduled to begin in the first half of 2026, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Baidu will provide its Apollo Go RT6 robotaxis for the program.
AstraZeneca PLC (ST:AZN) announced that its LATIFY Phase III trial of ceralasertib in combination with Imfinzi did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
