Investing.com - U.K. industrial order expectations deteriorated to the lowest level in five months in March, dampening optimism over the country’s economic outlook, industry data showed on Monday.
In a report, the Confederation of British Industry said its index of industrial order expectations decreased by 10.0 points to a reading of 0.0 this month from February’s reading of 10.0. Analysts had expected the index to decline by 1.0 point to 9.0 in March.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates increasing order volume is expected, below indicates expectations are for lower volume.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4914 from around 1.4916 ahead of the announcement, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7288 from 0.7284 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were lower. London’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.3%, the EURO STOXX 50 slumped 0.85%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.9%, while Germany's DAX tumbled 1.45%.