Forex Pros – The U.K. economy grew in line with expectations in the first quarter of 2011, unrevised from the growth previously published, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product rose in line with expectations at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.5% during the first quarter, unchanged from a previous estimate.
Annualized GDP rose at a rate of 1.6%, down from a prior reading of 1.8%.
Output of the production industries was revised down to minus 0.1% in the latest quarter. Within production, manufacturing output increased by 0.7%, offset by utilities output which fell by 3.5% and mining and quarrying output which fell by 1.8%.
Construction output fell by 3.4%, revised from a fall of 4.0%. This compares with a fall of 2.3% in the previous quarter.
Household expenditure fell 0.6% and is now 0.3% lower than the first quarter of 2010.
Following the release of that data, the pound was down against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD shedding 0.15% to hit 1.5965.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were up. The FTSE 100 rose 0.7%, the EURO STOXX 50 advanced 0.5%, France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.1%, and Germany’s DAX gained 0.4%.
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