Business activity growth continues

BUSINESS ACTIVITY in the services sector grew for the seventeenth month in a row in October, according to figures released yesterday.

The monthly Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) registered 57.0 last month, which was comfortably ahead of the 50.0 benchmark that represents the difference between positive and negative territory. But the index was marginally lower than the 57.3 recorded last month and the 58.1 seen in August, which suggested that positive sentiment was weakening.

NCB chief economist Dermot O'Brien, who published the monthly survey, said the signs remained good and that employment and confidence in the services sector were growing.