Investing.com - U.K. industrial order expectations unexpectedly deteriorated in January, dampening optimism over the country’s economic outlook, industry data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the Confederation of British Industry said its index of industrial order expectations decreased by 1.0 point to a reading of 4.0 this month from December’s reading of 5.0. Analysts had expected the index to hold steady at 5.0 in January.
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 1.5176 from around 1.5183 ahead of the announcement, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7659 from 0.7658 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mixed. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 inched up 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 dipped 0.1%, while Germany's DAX declined 0.25%.