Mubasher: UK services sector’s economic activity expansion eased more than analysts’ forecasts, marking the slowest pace since July 2016.

Services purchasing managers index (PMI) recorded 51.7 last month, down from 54.5 in February, data by HIS Markit showed on Thursday.

Economists had expected a much slighter decrease towards 53.9 during March.

This sharp slowdown came amid modest upturns in business activity and new work and a continued strength in input cost inflation

Meanwhile, employment growth slips to three-month low as bad weather disrupted business operations and weighed on consumer spending last month.

By 10:40 am GMT, the GBP/USD pair slipped by 0.19% to $1.4052.