U.K. industrial production posts steeper decline in October, worse than market expectations

Industrial production in the United Kingdom posted a steeper decline during the month of October, coming in worse than what markets had initially anticipated. Also, this fall recorded the sharpest in oer four years.

UK industrial production declined 1.3 percent in October after a 0.4 percent decline the previous month and was much weaker than the gain of 0.4 percent expected, data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Wednesday. This was also the sharpest monthly decline for over four years.

Manufacturing production was also substantially weaker than the consensus forecast with a 0.9 percent decline compared with an expected increase of 0.2 percent after the 0.6 percent advance seen for September. The sharp drop in manufacturing was led by a 3.6 percent decline in pharmaceutical output, which also declined 9.4 percent over the year.

Meanwhile, the GBP/USD is trading at 1.25, down 0.73 percent, while at 10GGMT, FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained highly bearish at -183.92 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex