The U.K. economy grew at a faster pace in the first quarter, but the rate was slower than expectations, data revealed Tuesday.

Gross domestic product advanced 0.8 percent from the fourth quarter, when it grew 0.7 percent, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed. However, the sequential growth was below the 0.9 percent forecast by economists.

GDP was 3.1 percent higher in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same quarter a year ago.

The production side of the GDP showed positive contributions from services, industry and construction. Output of the dominant service sector climbed 0.9 percent, and the index of production grew 0.8 percent.

Despite adverse weather conditions, construction rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter. However, agriculture output declined 0.7 percent.

Another report from ONS showed that the index of services gained 2.7 percent in February from the corresponding period of last year. Compared to January, output rose 0.2 percent.

ONS said there was no evidence to suggest that the storms and high rainfall in February had a significant impact on output in the services industries.

RTTNews