Investing.com - Manufacturing production in the U.K. unexpectedly declined in July, while industrial output also weakened, dampening optimism over the country’s economic outlook, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said that manufacturing production decreased by a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in July, disappointing expectations for a gain of 0.2% and following a 0.2% increase a month earlier.
On an annualized basis, manufacturing production fell at rate of 0.5%, far worse than estimates for a gain of 0.5%, after rising at a rate of 0.5% in June.
The report also showed that industrial production fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in July, confounding forecasts for a gain of 0.1%, after declining 0.4% in the preceding month.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5366 from around 1.5394 ahead of the announcement, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7275 from 0.7260 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly higher. London’s FTSE 100 jumped 1.7%, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 2%, France's CAC 40 added 2.1%, while Germany's DAX rallied 1.7%.