LONDON: Eurozone factory activity grew slightly last month as firms kept slashing prices, but a weakened currency did little to help drive new orders from abroad, a survey showed, on Monday.
“Eurozone manufacturing showed signs of pulling out of the doldrums at the start of the year, but the rate of expansion remained disappointingly meagre, vindicating the ECB’s decision to take drastic action,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at survey compiler Markit.
The survey’s results were mostly collected before the ECB announced a near-trillion euro quantitative easing programme as part of its bid to revive inflation and drive up growth.
Markit’s final January manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 51, in line with an earlier flash reading. Although it was a six-month high, it was only just above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. In December the index came in at 50.6.
Firms cut prices in January at the steepest rate since mid-2013. Data on Friday showed prices fell at a record-equalling 0.6pc across the 19 nations using the euro.
The euro has fallen more than 6pc so far this year, which will make the bloc’s goods cheaper to outsiders, but new export orders in January picked up at a weaker pace than in December.
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