London pre-open: Stocks to gain after US indices hit fresh highs; UK GDP in focus

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to gain at the open on Friday after the Dow and S&P 500 hit fresh highs, and as investors mulled the latest UK GDP data. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 45 points higher.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed the economy shrank 0.1% in October following a 0.1% contraction the month before and no growth in August.

Economists had been expecting growth of 0.1%.

Services saw a 0.3% decline, while construction fell by 0.6%, but production grew by 1.1% in October.

ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: "Within production, there was continued weakness in car manufacturing, with the industry only making a slight recovery in October from the substantial fall in output seen in the previous month."

In corporate news, independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy said it has agreed to acquire substantially all the subsidiaries of Waldorf Energy Partners and Waldorf Production, both of which are currently in administration.

Harbour Energy said the $170m deal was expected to be immediately accretive to free cash flow and would strengthen the competitiveness, resilience and longevity of its UK operations. Completion was expected to take place in the second quarter of 2026.

WH Smith said it would publish annual results on 19 December to give auditors more time to finish their work in the wake of an accounting error that wiped almost £600m from the company's stock market value last month and led to the departure of chief executive Carl Cowling.

The newspaper, books and stationery chain cut forecasts in August and started an independent review led by Deloitte after it discovered an accounting blunder at its North American arm overstated profits by as much as £50m.

Drugmaker GSK said the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use had recommended expanding the use of Arexy, its RSV vaccine, to all adults aged 18 and over.

The European Commission is expected to deliver its final decision in February 2026 and, if approved, the expanded indication will make Arexvy available to the wider adult population.