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UK Preliminary Manufacturing PMI beats estimates and comes in at 57.3 for December

  • UK Manufacturing PMI climbed to 57.3 in December vs. 55.9 expected.
  • Services PMI in the UK fell to 49.9 in December vs. 50.5 anticipated.
  • GBP/USD seemed rather unaffected and held stead near the 1.3500.

The UK manufacturing and services sector activities showed mixed performance in December, the preliminary report from IHS Markit showed this Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) jumped to a 37-month high level of 57.3 in December. The reading surpassed consensus estimates pointing to a modest uptick to 55.9 from 55.6 previous.

Meanwhile, the flash UK Services Business Activity Index for December remained in the contraction territory and came in at 49.9 versus November’s final reading of 47.6 and 50.5 expected.

FX implications

The mixed UK Preliminary Manufacturing and Services PMIs did little to influence the British pound, which remained well supported by the latest optimism over the possibility of a last-minute Brexit deal. In fact, the GBP/USD pair was last seen hovering near the top end of its daily trading range, around the key 1.3500 psychological mark.

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