0940 GMT - Lloyds Banking Group gains 0.7% after the U.K.-focused bank reported a near-doubled third-quarter pretax profit, beating market forecasts. Lloyds has benefited from being able to release money set aside for debt defaults following a better-than-expected economic outcome from the pandemic, boosting profits, while mortgage lending remains elevated, Hargreaves Lansdown says. "Positive trends are coming through in Lloyds's net-interest margin--the difference between what the bank charges on loans and pays on deposits," HL analyst Sophie Lund-Yates says. "With thoughts that interest rates could rise in the not-too-distant future, the banking giant could get a meaningful boost on that front." (philip.waller@wsj.com)