The pound rose for a third day against the dollar before a report economists said will confirm that the U.K. economy expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter. Sterling also gained versus the yen and the Brazilian real. Gross domestic product rose 0.5 percent from the previous quarter, when it increased 0.1 percent, the Office for National Statistics will say today, confirming a Nov. 24 release, according to the median prediction in a Bloomberg survey. Total business investment slipped 1.4 percent from the previous three- month period, according to a separate survey. Two-year gilts rose. The pound appreciated 0.3 percent to $1.5719 at 8:41 a.m. London time. It also climbed 0.3 percent versus the yen, to 122.72, and weakened 0.2 percent to 83.36 pence per euro, after strengthening yesterday to 83.03 pence, the strongest level since Jan. 13. Sterling has advanced 1 percent in 2011 against nine developed-nation peers tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar is 0.7 percent stronger and the euro has lost 1.2 percent, the indexes show. The two-year gilt yield fell two basis points to 0.36 percent. The 2.25 percent note due March 2014 added 0.045, or 45 pence per 1,000-pound face amount, to 104.16. Ten-year yields were little changed at 2.06 percent after yesterday declining to 2.016 percent, the lowest on record. Gilts have returned almost 16 percent this year, including reinvested interest, according to indexes compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. German government bonds have gained 9 percent and U.S. Treasuries have returned 9.5 percent, the indexes show. To contact the reporters on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net; Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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