German business activity growth hits four-month high in February, PMI shows

By Maria Martinez

BERLIN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Germany's private sector saw business activity growth accelerate to a four-month high in February, driven by improved performance in services and ?the first manufacturing expansion in over three-and-a-half ?years, a survey showed on Friday.

The HCOB Flash Germany Composite Purchasing Managers' ?Index compiled by S&P Global rose to 53.1 in February ?from 52.1 in January, indicating growth in ?activity as readings ?above 50 denote expansion.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of ?52.3.

Growth continued to be led ?by the service sector, where the rate of growth of business activity quickened to a four-month high, ?with the index rising ?to ?53.4 from 52.4 in the previous month. That was above the forecast of 52.3 of analysts polled by Reuters.

The ?manufacturing PMI, meanwhile, breached the 50.0 threshold for the ?first time since June 2022, registering 50.7 from 49.1 in January, and beating the Reuters forecast of 49.5.

"This confirms the tentative signs of an economic turnaround that were ?particularly ?evident in January," said Cyrus de la Rubia, ?chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank AG.

German industrial orders ?rose unexpectedly in December, posting their biggest increase in two years.

"(Gross domestic product) in Germany is likely to have grown visibly in the first quarter, unless there is a major slump in March, for which there is no indication in the data," ?de la Rubia said.

Despite the positive growth, job losses continued, albeit at a slower pace, with factories reducing employment at ?the second-softest rate in nearly ?two-and-a-half years.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez; Editing ?by Joe Bavier)