Business activity grows in euro-area's top four economies

London

BUSINESS activity expanded in each of the euro-area's four largest economies for the first time in almost a year, signalling that a fragile recovery is slowly becoming more sustained.

A Purchasing Managers Index for the manufacturing and services industries across the region rose to a seven-month high of 53.3 in February from 52.6 in the previous month, London-based Markit Economics said on Wednesday. Similar gauges for Germany, France, Italy and Spain were all above the 50-point mark that divides expansion from contraction. The last time that happened was in April 2014.