Investing.com - Manufacturing activity in the U.K. rebounded in March from a 34-month low hit in the prior month, but came in under forecasts, industry data showed on Friday.
In a report, market research group Markit said that its U.K. manufacturing PMI rose to a seasonally adjusted 51.0 last month from a reading of 50.8 in February. Analysts had expected the index to advance slightly more to 51.2 in February.
On the index, a reading above 50.0 indicates industry expansion, below indicates contraction.
In the report, Markit noted that the first quarter of 2016 registered one its weakest performances in the past three years.
Output growth was unchanged from February’s seven-month low.
Manufacturing job losses declined for a third straight month.
Commenting on the report, Rob Dobson, senior economist at survey compiler Markit, said, “The UK manufacturing sector remained in the doldrums during the opening quarter of the year.”
“Although March saw modest improvements in the trends for production and new orders, industry is still hovering close to the stagnation mark and will struggle to make a meaningful contribution to the next set of GDP growth figures,” he added.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4355 from around 1.4356 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was also unchanged at 0.7937.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly lower. London’s FTSE 100 lost 1.00%, the EURO STOXX 50 gave up 1.59%, France's CAC 40 slumped 1.56%, while Germany's DAX traded down 1.38%.