British equities closed 0.15% in the red on Tuesday as investors assessed the latest economic data, including government borrowing, alongside corporate earnings releases.

Net borrowing in the UK, excluding public sector banks, reached 18.27 billion pounds sterling in August 2026, up from the revised 2.04 billion pounds a month earlier, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. The figure is 3.5 billion pounds above the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast and marks the second-highest August on record, behind 2020.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry’s industrial trends survey showed an improvement in total new orders across the British manufacturing sector to -9% in September from -25% in August, beating market expectations for a deterioration to -33%.

“There are growing signs that conditions are stabilising for manufacturers, with a marked improvement in order books for the second consecutive month – taking them to their strongest in more than three years. Output is also now falling only marginally and selling price expectations have eased considerably from the highs seen following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East,” said CBI senior economist Cameron Martin.

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in New York to warn that UK industry risks becoming “collateral damage” as a result of the European Union’s protectionist scheme. “We are not your enemy,” Burnham said, acknowledging von der Leyen’s aim to safeguard EU manufacturers from Chinese competition.

In corporate news, Kingfisher plc (KGF.L) surged 12.17% to the top of the blue-chip index after booking a yearly rise in fiscal first-half profit and sales and upgrading its full-year adjusted pretax profit guidance to between 595 million pounds and 635 million pounds, from between 565 million pounds and 625 million pounds.

“Kingfisher has reported a strong set of H1 results today, with profits for all regions better than expected. Adj. PBT is GBP404mn well ahead of consensus at GBP372mn, even allowing for a GBP14mn business rates refund in the UK,” RBC Capital Markets noted.

Smiths Group (SMIN.L) climbed 7.88% to rank among the top FTSE 100 gainers after profit for the 12 months ended July 31 zoomed up to 1.97 billion pounds from 292 million pounds year over year. The industrial engineering company’s revenue rose to 1.94 billion pounds from 1.90 billion pounds.

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