Forexpros – The U.K.’s goods trade deficit held steady in March, as the previous month’s deficit was revised down slightly, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said the country’s goods trade deficit held steady at a seasonally adjusted GBP8.6 billion in March, unchanged from a deficit of GBP8.6 billion in February, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of GBP8.77 billion.
Economists had expected the goods trade deficit to narrow to GBP8.4 billion in March.
The report said that the total trade deficit narrowed to GBP2.7 billion in March after posting a deficit of GBP2.9 billion in the preceding month. Analysts had expected the total trade deficit to hold steady at GBP2.9 billion.
Export prices of goods rose by 1.7% in March and import prices of goods rose by 1.2%, compared with February.
Excluding oil and erratic items, the seasonally adjusted volume of exports was 6.0% higher than in February, and the volume of imports was 2.4% higher in March compared with February.
Following the release of the data, the pound was fractionally lower against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD easing down 0.08% to trade at 1.6079.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were off their highest levels of the session. London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.25%, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.55%, while Germany’s DAX eased up 0.15%.
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