Investing.com – Manufacturing and industrial production in the U.K. both unexpectedly declined in October, bolstering concern over the British economy, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that manufacturing production fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.9% in October, worse than expectations for a gain of 0.2% and following a rise of 0.6% in the prior month. October's decline is the weakest since February.
On an annualized basis, manufacturing production declined at rate of 0.4% in October, worse than forecasts for a 0.8% advance and after increasing at a rate of 0.1% in September. The previous month’s data was revised down from an initial 0.2% gain.
The report also showed that industrial production unexpectedly decreased by a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in October, compared to forecasts for a 0.2% rise and following the 0.4% decline in the preceding month. That was the largest decline in output since September 2012.
Year-on-year, industrial production fell 1.1% in October, below expectations for a 0.5% rise and following the 0.4% advance registered a month earlier. September’s reading was revised upwards from an initial gain of 0.3%.
Immediately after the report, GBP/USD was at 1.2607 from around 1.2630 ahead of the announcement, EUR/GBP was at 0.8506 from 0.8491 earlier, while GBP/JPY traded at 143.90 from 144.20 prior to the release
Meanwhile, European stocks were trading higher. London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.20%, the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 1.15%, France's CAC 40 traded up 1.13%, while Germany's DAX advanced 1.48%.