Output from Britain's manufacturers rose unexpectedly in the first month of the year due to a surge in activity in the computer sector. UK manufacturing output rose 0.3pc in January from December, according to National Statistics (NS) and was down 0.3pc on a year-on-year basis. This is the smallest annual decline in manufacturing output since March 2001. Analysts had expected output to remain unchanged on the month. "The rise in manufacturing output on the month is more than accounted for by a large increase in output of the computer industry of 24.1pc," NS said. "This increase. is due to them not showing their usual large falls into January."
Excluding the computer industry, manufacturing output would have fallen by 0.5pc. Meanwhile, overall industrial output, which includes mining and utility production fell 0.1pc in January from the previous month, in line with expectations. On a year-on-year basis, industrial output slipped 0.7pc. In a separate report, NS said that the UK's global trade in goods deficit widened by 9pc in January to STG3.32bn from STG3.04bnthe previous month. The deficit was smaller than the STG3.5bn figure expected. //www.fxcentre.com/