Investing.com – Manufacturing and industrial production in the U.K. unexpectedly fell in February, adding to the prior month’s decline and dampening optimism over the British economy, official data showed on Friday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that manufacturing production decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in February, worse than expectations for a gain of 0.2% and following a decline of 1.0% in the previous month, which was revised from an initial drop of 0.9%.
On an annualized basis, manufacturing production increased at rate of 3.3% in February, below forecasts for a 3.9% advance and after rising at a rate of 2.6% in January, which was revised from an initial 2.7% gain.
The report also showed that industrial production fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in February, compared to forecasts for a 0.2% increase and the 0.3% drop in the preceding month. January’s reading was revised from an initial 0.4% decline.
Year-on-year, industrial production gained 2.8% in February, below expectations for a 3.7% rise and following the 3.3% advance (initially 3.2%) registered a month earlier.
Immediately after the report, which was released simultaneously with the U.K. trade balance and construction output for the same month, the pound weakened. GBP/USD was at 1.2432 from around 1.2466 ahead of the announcement, EUR/GBP was at 0.8554 from 0.8531 earlier, while GBP/JPY traded at 137.47 from 137.83 prior to the release.
European stocks were trading lower. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.10%, the Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.54%, France's CAC 40 traded down 0.35%, while Germany's DAX shed 0.53%.