Wednesday preview: UK construction PMI data released

The Markit/CIPS UK construction purchasing managers index (PMI) data for March will be unveiled Wednesday, a day after figures showed a spike in manufacturing and services exports.

The construction PMI is expected to rise to 48 in March, according to the consensus forecast, from February's drop to 46.8 - the lowest since October 2009 - which sunk further below the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.

"Downward pressure on client budgets, alongside subdued public sector spending, again led to lower output levels and reduced new order inflows," said Tim Moore, senior economist at survey compiler Markit, alongside the February data.

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However the British Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday signalled a boost to the UK economy as its survey revealed a jump in exports of manufacturing and services industries driven in part by a weak pound in the first quarter of 2013.

The manufacturing export deliveries balance rose six points to +19% while the orders balance climbed 11 points to +22%, the best levels since the second quarter of 2012.

The service export deliveries balance jumped nine points in the first quarter to +33% and orders increased eight points to +26%, the highest levels since the fourth quarter of 1994.

However employment has weakened with manufacturing down four points to +11% and services down one point to +11%.

BCC Chief Economist David Kern said the first quarter improvement shows that UK output has continued to grow in the early months of 2013.

"The survey reinforces our assessment that recent [official] gross domestic product [GDP] figures have exaggerated the weakness of the UK economy and the volatility in output," he said.

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