UK Shares Rally on Upside GDP Surprise; Antofagasta Bucks Trend

11:49 AM EDT, 10/15/2026 (MT Newswires) -- London's FTSE 100 closed 1.07% higher on Thursday amid an unexpected economic expansion in the UK in August and the influx of corporate trading updates. Britain's gross domestic product grew 0.1% month over month in August, following a 0.4% gain in July, the Office for National Statistics said. Analysts expected a 0.1% decline during the month. On a yearly basis, the British economy rose 2.1%, faster than the revised 1.8% increase previously and the market forecast of a 1.7% rise. "Following three years over which growth has averaged 1.1%, the acceleration through the 2% threshold gives the data some wow factor," Berenberg said. "The sector breakdown suggests that AI is behind much of the upswing. ... The rest of the economy is decidedly sluggish." Analysts also reiterated their view for the Bank of England to only raise interest rates once on Nov. 5, in the absence of a renewed surge in energy prices. ONS data also showed that the UK's industrial production rose 0.8% on a monthly basis in August after a revised 0.3% gain in July, while manufacturing production rose 1.2%, following a revised 1% gain in the prior month. Both figures exceeded the estimates of a 0.1% decline. In corporate news, Antofagasta (ANTO.L) was one of the worst performers on the blue-chip index, dropping 3.84% after copper, gold, and molybdenum production declined year over year in the third quarter. "We expect a negative reaction to today's results with Q3 production coming in lighter at [152,000 tonnes], -2% vs company consensus of 155kt," RBC Capital Markets said. "Guidance for 2026 (625-655kt vs RBCe at 637kt) has been maintained and implies 203kt to hit the midpoint (+33% qoq on better Los Pelambres grades and throughput), but very little airtime in the release has been given to the strike at Centinela." On the contrary, Dunelm Group (DNLM.L) climbed 8.80% after total sales for the fiscal first quarter increased 1.1% year over year to 433 million pounds sterling. The home furnishings retailer expects its adjusted pretax profit for fiscal 2027 to remain broadly in line with the previous year. Meanwhile, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy is considering a public interest intervention in Sky UK's planned acquisition of ITV's (ITV.L) media and entertainment business, citing potential implications for media plurality and freedom of expression in news media. ITV closed the session 0.69% in the red.