The UK economy contracted by less than thought in the second quarter, official figures have shown.   The economy shrank by 0.4% in the April-to-June period, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its third estimate of gross domestic product (GDP).

The ONS had initially estimated a contraction of 0.7%, before revising that to 0.5% last month.   Analysts had been expecting no change to the second estimate.   The first figures for any quarter are known as the “flash estimate” as they are based on incomplete data. The figures are revised at least twice as more information is collected

A 3% slump in construction output in the second quarter of 2012 remained the main drag on the economy, although this was better than the first estimate of a 5.2% fall and the second estimate of a 3.9% decline in the sector.

Production output, which includes manufacturing fell by 0.8%, revised from a 0.9% fall.   The manufacturers’ organisation, the EEF, said the figures offered “some hope” for manufacturing, pointing out that manufacturing investment increased by 5.9% in the second quarter.