The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) released its industrial order books balance on Thursday. The CBI industrial order books balance climbed to +10% in February from +4% in January.

Analysts expected the CBI industrial order books balance to increase to +7%.

The CBI's director for economics Rain Newton-Smith said that export orders increased, "but uncertainty over prospects in the Eurozone will continue to weigh on export demand".

He noted that lower oil prices were positive for the manufacturing sector in the UK, "but North Sea producers are clearly suffering".

Volume of output for the next three months climbed to +25 in February, the highest level since September 2014, up from +13 in January.