The
IHS Markit report released on Monday indicated that the manufacturing sector
activities in the euro area have remained in contraction in November.
The
final manufacturing PMI came in at 46.9 last month, slightly better than
both forecasts and preliminary of 46.6, compared to October’s reading of 45.9,
as both output and new orders continued to drop.
Only
Greece and France managed to score readings above the 50 benchmark.
“The
survey data for the fourth quarter so far are indicating a quarterly rate of
contraction in excess of 1% for manufacturing,” said Chris Williamson, chief
business economist at IHS Markit.
In
the U.K., the manufacturing PMI improved to 46.9 from 45.9 in
October, but still remained on the contraction zone, where UK factories slashed
jobs at fastest rate since 2012.
“Businesses
responded to the delay to Brexit and a fresh injection of uncertainty from the
forthcoming general election,” according to Markit’s report.
As of 10:45 GMT, the
euro traded near Friday’s top at 0.8536 versus the British pound, ahead of ECB
President Christine Lagarde’s testimony before the European Parliament
later in the day.