Investing.com – Total industrial production output in Britain decreased 0.4% on a monthly basis in January, official data showed on Wednesday, defying rosier forecasts.
Economists had actually expected output to grow during the month, albeit at a slower pace of 0.2% after December's increase of 0.5%.
In a statement, Britain's Office for National Statistics noted that mining and quarrying output increased 1.4%, with an increase in oil and gas production output of 1.1%.
The office said the largest negative contributions to overall output were decreases of 3.0% in the electrical and optical equipment industries, 2.9% in the chemicals and man-made fibers industries and 8.7% in the non metallic mineral products industries.
In the wake of the data, sterling plunged against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD shedding 0.64% to hit 1.4901.