UK services output growth slows to 0.1 pct in Oct

Britain's service sector growth slowed to 0.1 percent in October from a slightly upwardly revised 0.5 percent in September after a fall in distribution services output, official data showed on Wednesday.

The data offer the first official figures on how the largest segment of Britain's economy performed early in the fourth quarter of 2009, when private-sector economists expect a return to GDP growth of around 0.4 percent after a contraction of 0.2 percent in the third quarter.

The Office for National Statistics said services output fell 0.2 percent in the three months to October — a rate of decline unchanged from that in the three months to September, the latter in line with figures in the final estimate of Q3 GDP published on Tuesday.

The slowdown in the month-on-month rate of service sector growth in October was driven by a 0.4 percent fall in distribution — businesses such as retail — which grew 3.2 percent in September.

The other main service industries — government, business and finance, transport and communication, and hotels and restaurants — all grew modestly in October, with little variation from September's pace of change.

Year-on-year, the rate of contraction in the services sector slowed slightly to 3.7 percent in October from 3.8 percent in September.

The ONS also reported that productivity across all sectors of the economy fell 0.1 percent in the third quarter of the year after a 0.3 percent rise in the second quarter. Year-on-year, productivity was down 3.1 percent in Q3 compared to a 3.5 percent fall in Q2.