LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - Britain's economy contracted by slightly less in the final three months of 2010 than statisticians had earlier estimated, due to broad-based upward revisions to a range of sectors.
The Office for National Statistics revised fourth-quarter GDP growth upwards to -0.5 percent on the quarter from its most recent previous estimate of -0.6 percent, though the new figure is still the biggest decline since the second quarter of 2009.
The annual rate of growth was unrevised at 1.5 percent. Economists had expected both rates to remain unrevised at -0.6 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.
The ONS said that Britain's coldest December in 100 years had knocked 0.5 percentage points off GDP, and that growth would have been flat without the adverse weather.
The services sector and the construction sector both suffered their biggest contractions since the second quarter of 2009, when Britain's economy was deep in recession. House hold expenditure also suffered its biggest fall since then.
However, industrial output grew at its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2010.