Markit says Russia’s Services PMI rises to 55.8 in October

MOSCOW, Nov 6 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 55.8 in October from 53.6 in September, above the 50 no-change mark, signaling a strong expansion in business activity across the service sector, largely underpinned by a sharper upturn in new orders, researcher IHS Markit said on Wednesday.

The Composite PMI increased to 53.3 in October from 51.4 in September.

“Russian service sector output strengthened further in October, with business activity rising at the sharpest pace for a year and new orders increasing strongly. Greater demand was seen both domestically and externally as new business from abroad expanded at a solid pace,” Sian Jones, economist at Markit, said.

"At the composite level, a stronger performance across the service sector underpinned overall business activity growth as manufacturing sector output remained in contraction. Meanwhile, historically subdued increases in costs and charges supported recent moves towards stimulus by Russia's central bank, amid a larger than expected reduction in interest rates in October," the official said.

Inflationary pressures remained historically muted, despite a slightly faster increase in output charges.

Service providers registered a second successive rise in employment in October. The rate of job creation quickened to a moderate pace that was the fastest since February. Firms noted that greater workforce numbers reflected increased business requirements and company expansions.

On the price front, cost burdens increased at a relatively subdued rate in October. The pace of input price inflation slowed to the softest since early-2018.

Business activity expectations strengthened in October amid new client acquisitions and the development of new service lines. The level of positive sentiment reached a five-month high but remained slightly below the series average.

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