Manufacturing output in Britain rose at its strongest pace since last November in July in a further sign a long-awaited recovery in the sector may be under way.
The Office for National Statistics said output, led by computers, rose 0.5 per cent on the month, although it was still 0.3 per cent lower than a year earlier, such has been the slump in the sector, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, in recent years.
The 0.5 per cent figure was the second consecutive monthly rise and was considerably stronger than economists had expected. A recovery in manufacturing is widely thought to hold the key to when interest rates rise again after being cut for the past three years.
The Bank of England cut rates in July to a 48-year low of 3.5 per cent but futures markets, faced with a barrage of improving economic data, are now pricing in a rate rise by the end of the year.