Investing.com - U.K. construction sector activity continued its expansion in March in an unchanged reading from February, which was a ten-month low, underlining concerns over the economy and dimming the case for higher interest rates, industry data showed on Monday.
In a report, market research firm Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply said that their U.K. construction purchasing managers' index remained at a seasonally adjusted 54.2 last month unchanged from the reading in February. Economists had expected the index to inch down to 54.0 in February.
On the index, a reading above 50.0 indicates expansion, below indicates contraction.
Residential activity expanded at the slowest pace in over three years, offsetting the rebound in civil engineering and commercial work.
New business growth and job creation also weakened in March.
Commenting on the report, David Noble, Group Chief Executive Officer at the Chartered Institute of Procurement& Supply, said, “There was little comfort to be had this month, as the construction sector was awash with caution and hesitancy not seen since the pre-election lull of 2015.”
“Clients were unwilling to commit to new contracts or expand existing work, meaning that new business growth was at its most fragile since April 2015,” Noble added.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4229 from around 1.4222 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7995 from 0.8001 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly higher. London’s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.29%, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.67%, France's CAC 40 gained 0.40%, while Germany's DAX advanced 0.45%.