Italy factory output growth slows in June: PMI

[ROME] Italian manufacturing activity slowed slightly in June but still expanded for the fifth month in a row, a survey showed on Wednesday, adding to signs the eurozone's third-largest economy is recovering.

The Markit/ADACI Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) dropped to 54.1 in June from 54.8 in May, remaining firmly above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction.

The reading undershot a Reuters poll of 17 analysts who had pointed on average to a reading of 54.4.

May's reading had been the highest in more than four years, and even with the slight drop in June, the average PMI level for the second quarter as a whole was the highest for any quarter in more than four years, Markit said.

The sub-index measuring new orders dropped in June to 54.7 from 56.7 in May.

Italy's economy is forecast to return to modest growth in 2015 after three years of recession.

REUTERS