The U.K. service sector continued to perform strongly in September and thereby round off the best quarterly performance of the sector since the second quarter of 1997, data from Markit Economics showed Thursday.
The headline Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Purchasing Managers' Index dropped slightly to 60.3 in September from August's near seven-year high of 60.5.
That signaled another strong rise in activity on a monthly basis, and extended the current run of continuous growth to nine months. The sharp increase in activity was once again supported by incoming new business.
September's survey showed employment growth accelerating to a solid rate that was only fractionally lower than June's near six-year high.
Finally, operating costs continued to increase during the latest survey period. Efforts to pass these higher costs onto clients were generally thwarted by ongoing price competition.
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