A key index measuring economic output in the euro zone rose to 52.1 in December, a three-month high and close to the 27-month peak registered in September.
Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the currency bloc’s manufacturing and service sectors had slipped to 51.7 points in November, the London-based research group said Monday.
Markit said the upturn in PMI resulted in the best quarter for two-and-a-half years and marked “a reversal of easing in the rate of growth seen over the prior two months’’.
According to ING analyst Martin van Vliet, the increase after two consecutive months of decline “comes as somewhat of a relief and will reinforce hopes of a continuation of the upturn next year’’.
A PMI reading of more than 50 signals economic expansion.