Forexpros – U.K. industrial order expectations were unchanged in April, confounding expectations for a modest improvement, industry data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the Confederation of British Industry said its index of industrial order expectations held steady at minus 8.0 in April, unchanged from March’s reading.
Analysts had expected the index to improve by 2.0 points to minus 6.0 in April.
The index hit a six-month high of minus 3.0 in February.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates increasing order volume is expected, below indicates expectations are for lower volume.
The data showed that orders and output volumes saw modest increases in the three months to April, and momentum is expected to build further in the coming three months.
The balance of firms reporting they were more optimistic about the general business situation than three months ago was at its highest since April 2010.
Commenting on the report, CBI Chief Economic Advisor Ian McCafferty said, “With the acute fears over Europe and global demand subsiding somewhat since the start of 2012, sentiment about the general business situation has risen among manufacturers for the first time in a year.”
“Nevertheless, given Europe is still our biggest export market, the outlook for UK manufacturing will remain uncertain until the euro zone crisis is resolved,” he added.
Following the release of that data, the pound held on to losses against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD shedding 0.3% to trade at 1.6097.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained broadly higher. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 1.5%, France’s CAC 40 surged 1.6%, while Germany’s DAX jumped 1.25%
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