(Bloomberg) -- U.K. construction growth slowed to the weakest in almost a year in July, according to IHS Markit.
The Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 51.9, the lowest since August, from 54.8 in June. That's below the 54 forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey, although it remains above the 50 level dividing expansion from contraction.
The construction sector was a drag on growth in second quarter, and the economy as a whole experienced a “notable slowdown” in the first half, the Office for National Statistics said last week.
Even so, surveys present a mixed economic picture for July. Manufacturing accelerated for the first time in three months, Markit reported on Monday, and an index of services, which make up almost 80 percent of the economy, will rise to 53.6 when they are published on Thursday, according to economists in a Bloomberg survey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint, Fergal O'Brien
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