US industrial output up 0.4% in March

US industrial production, an indicator of the output of mines, factories and utilities, rose 0.4 percent in March boosted by the utilities sector, U.S. Federal Reserve reported on Tuesday.Manufacturing output, the largest component of the overall industrial production, declined 0.1 percent last month.Outside manufacturing, the output of mining sector edged down 0.2 percent, and the output of utilities jumped 5.3 percent last month.The report also showed that overall industrial capacity utilization -- a key measure of slack in the industrial economy -- stood at 78.5 percent in March, 0.2 percentage point higher than the revised figure in the previous month, but was still 1.7 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2012.