Euro Area’s private sector returns to growth in March

Euro Area’s private sector has returned to growth for the first time since May 2023 in March.

The HCOB Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index was revised up to 50.3 last month from a preliminary reading of 49.9 and improving from February’s level of 49.2.

The bloc’s manufacturing sector activity still remained in contraction territory, with the respective PMI at 46.1 in March, down from 46.5 in February.

On the other hand, Euro Area’s services sector activity registered improvement, with the respective PMI at 51.5 in March, up from 50.2 in February.

Business activity growth was underpinned by stable demand and efforts to clear work backlogs, S&P Global said.

March has also been a third consecutive month of net job growth in the single currency bloc amid rising confidence regarding the economic outlook. Future business activity expectations were at a high not seen since February 2022, data by S&P Global showed.

The Euro was last 0.22% firmer against the US Dollar on Thursday, with the EUR/USD currency pair trading at 1.0859.

The major Forex pair was holding near a fresh one-week high of 1.0862, which it registered earlier during the European trading session.