UK Services Rise at Fastest Pace in 10 Months

The UK services sector has recorded its fastest growth for almost a year, a survey suggests.

The Markit/CIPS services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) hit 60.5 in August, up from 59.1 in July. Any score above 50 indicates expansion.

But a similar survey suggested that growth in the eurozone’s services and manufacturing sectors slowed.

Experts said this would put pressure on the European Central Bank to act at its meeting on Thursday.

The UK PMI survey represented the sharpest rise in business activity in the service sector since October last year.

Demand remained strong with marketing activity increasing as a result, it found.

There were, however, concerns about future levels of business, leading to a fall in overall business confidence to a 15-month low.

Earlier this week, the PMI survey of the manufacturing industry showed the sector grew at its slowest pace in 14 months.

“An acceleration of growth in the vast services sector and an on-going construction boom offset a weakened performance in manufacturing in August,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

He said the services and manufacturing data suggested the UK economy was on course to post “strong” economic growth in the current quarter, in line with the 0.8% recorded in the first two quarters of this year.

via BBC

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.