Investing.com - U.K. construction sector activity expanded at the slowest pace in three months in March, dampening optimism over the health of the economy, industry data showed on Thursday.
In a report, market research firm Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply said that their U.K. construction purchasing managers' index declined to a seasonally adjusted 57.8 last month from a reading of 60.1 in February. Economists had expected the index to tick down to 59.5 in March.
On the index, a reading above 50.0 indicates expansion, below indicates contraction.
Commenting on the report, Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit and author the report, said, “U.K. construction output growth has settled in at a strong pace so far in 2015, although the recovery has lost some of its swagger since last year."
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4835 from around 1.4834 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7296 from 0.7299 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained mixed. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 ticked down 0.15%, France's CAC 40 advanced 0.15%, while Germany's DAX shed 0.25%.