Mubasher: UK industrial production flattened in the third quarter, as manufacturing sector recorded no change, while drops of mining and quarrying output were muted by gains for electricity and gas production, data released on Monday showed.

UK manufacturing output was stable over the three month to September, as growth declines in eight sub-sectors out of 13 were completely offset as transport equipment production improved by 6.2%, the National Office for Statistics (ONS) said.

Production output fell by 0.3% in September alone, led by electricity and gas output decline of 0.5% and a manufacturing downturn of 0.4%, with basic pharmaceutical products recording the biggest downward contribution at 5.1%.

Production output also lost 1.4% during the reported three-month period, from the year before, due to a manufacturing slump of 1.4%, falls in mining and quarrying of 5.3%, with electricity and gas dropping by 1%.

By 10:00 am GMT, the GBP/USD pair rose by 0.21% to $1.2801, while the EUR/GBP pair ticked by 0.08% to GBP 0.8617.