UK Preliminary Services PMI declines to 52.8 in March vs. 53.0 expected
|- UK Manufacturing PMI contracts to 48.0 in March, a negative surprise.
- Services PMI in the UK comes in at 52.8 in March, a big miss.
- GBP/USD remains in the red near 1.2250 on disappointing UK PMIs.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) contracted further to 48.0 in March versus 49.8 expected and, February’s 49.3 final readout.
Meanwhile, the Preliminary UK Services Business Activity Index for March dropped to 52.8 as against February’s 53.5 final print and 53.0 expected.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, commented on the survey
“With the flash PMI surveys signaling a second month of rising output in March, the UK economy looks to have returned to growth in the first quarter.”
“The surveys are broadly consistent with GDP growing at only a modest quarterly rate of 0.2%, but this represents a welcome expansion compared to the lack of growth seen in the second half of last year.”
FX implications
The downbeat UK Manufacturing and Services PMI failed to move a needle around the GBP/USD pair. The spot is losing 0.34% on the day to trade at 1.2243, as of writing.
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