03.04.201821:36:00UTC+00UK Manufacturing Growth Steady in March

Britain's manufacturing sector remains steady in March with a closely watched survey showing higher output counterbalanced by a slowing rate of growth in new orders.

The IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) edged up to 55.1 in March from a downwardly revised 55.0 in February.

At 55.1, the British factory PMI remains comfortably above its post-financial crisis average of 53.4.

However, January's reading was also revised lower and for the first quarter as a whole, the PMI was its lowest in a year, though above its average since Britain exited recession in the third quarter of 2009 following the financial crisis.

This implied factory output increased at a quarterly rate of about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, slowing from 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, IHS Markit said.

Manufacturing in the U.K. has been expanding at a brisk pace, supported by solid growth in Continental Europe and the relative weakness of sterling, and it has been one of the strongest sectors in the British economy over the previous year.

The slowdown was partly due to weaker consumer demand caused by higher inflation after June 2016's Brexit vote knocked sterling lower.

Sterling and British government bonds were little moved by the figures.

A Confederation of British Industry survey last month also suggested growth in manufacturing moderated recently.