UK: Preliminary Services PMI down to 52.8 in March vs. 53.0 expected

• UK manufacturing PMI shrinks to 48.0 in March, a negative surprise.
• The UK services PMI came in at 52.8 in March, lower than expected.
• GBP/USD remains negative near 1.2250 on disappointing UK PMIs.

The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the UK S&P Global/CIPS manufacturing sector contracted again in March to 48.0 pointscompared to the 49.8 expected and the 49.3 in February.

For its part, the preliminary index of business activity PMI in the UK services sector fell to 52.8 in Marchcompared to the 53.5 end of February and the expected 53.0.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at S&P Global, had this to say about the survey

“With preliminary PMI surveys pointing to a second month of rising production in March, the UK economy appears to have returned to growth in the first quarter“.

“The polls broadly coincide with GDP growth at 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.”

Repercussions in the foreign exchange market

The bleak UK manufacturing and services PMIs failed to move GBP/USD. The pair loses 0.34% on the day and is trading at 1.2243 at the time of writing these lines.