Eurozone private sector growth at 13-month low

Markit’s final Eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index for February fell to 53.0,above the flash estimate of 52.7 and January's 53.6 but marking the lowest reading since January last year.

Still, it was comfortably above the 50 mark that separates contraction from expansion.

The services PMI, meanwhile, came in at 53.3, up from the flash estimate of 53 but below January’s 53.6 and marking a 13-month low.

In Germany, the composite PMI fell to 54.1 in February from 54.5 the previous, which was a five-month low.

France's composite PMI slipped to 49.3 from 50.2 in January, marking a 13-month low.

Chief economist Chris Williamson said: “The final eurozone PMI came in slightly ahead of the earlier flash estimate, but still showed the pace of growth waning for a second successive month in February to the slowest for just over a year.

“The survey data raise the prospect of economic growth deteriorating further from the already meagre pace seen late last year, when GDP rose only 0.3%.”

He added: “The slowdown in growth of business activity, accompanied by a similar easing in the pace of job creation and the steepest fall in prices charged for a year, suggest that the region’s recovery is losing momentum. The broad-based disappointment ups the odds of the ECB acting aggressively to avoid another downturn.”