Sterling falls, gilts rise after poor UK services PMI data

LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling fell against the dollar and euro and British government bond futures rose slightly after the publication of a sharply worse than expected survey of service sector purchasing managers on Monday.

The survey showed the headline sentiment index falling to its lowest in three years, pointing to overall economic growth in the first quarter of just 0.3 percent - the least since late 2012.

Sterling, which had been steady on the day against the dollar, fell a quarter of a percent to $1.4033 before recovering some ground. Against the euro it dipped 0.1 percent to 77.27 pence.

Gilt futures were last up 10 ticks on the day, having been flat shortly before the publication of the PMI.

(Reporting by Patrick Graham and Andy Bruce, editing by Nigel Stephenson)