LONDON: The London market suffered its biggest one day fall in a month after official figures showed a sharp slowdown in UK economic growth at the start of the year.
The figures, which come nine days before the general election, mean that after experiencing the strongest growth among the G7 leading advanced economies last year, the UK may begin 2015 at a more sluggish pace even than the beleaguered eurozone.
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The FTSE 100 Index fell 73.5 points to 7030.5 after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) increased by just 0.3% in the first three months of 2015.
It was half the rate of growth of 0.6% seen in the fourth quarter and worse than the expected figure of 0.5%.
The data showed the construction sector shrank sharply in the first quarter while industrial production also contracted and the dominant services sector saw the slowest pace of growth for nearly two years.
London’s top-flight had surged to a record intra-day high of 7122.7 on Monday and also posted its best ever close, driven by hopes of an end to the deadlock in indebted Greece’s bail-out talks with creditors.
