2020.02.2610:44:00UTC+00Austria Manufacturing PMI At 12-month High

Austria's manufacturing sector expanded in February, marking the best performance in a year, survey results from IHS Markit showed on Wednesday.

The headline UniCredit Bank Austria manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 50.2 in February from 49.2 in January. This was the highest score in twelve months.

Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.

Output grew for the first time in ten months in February and employment rose for the first time in eight months.

Input lead times lengthened for first time in twelve months in February, due to the coronavirus disruption.

New orders decreased for the fourteenth month in a row. The rate of decline in order book volumes grew slightly amid a renewed drop in new export orders.

Business confidence rose to the highest since June 2018.

The decline in manufacturers' buying levels eased to the weakest in the current twelve-month sequence of contraction.

Post-production inventories decreased at a solid and accelerated rate in February, that was the quickest for over two years and stock of purchases fell slightly.

On the price front, input costs declined for the ninth month in a row in February and output charges were stabilized, falling marginally and at the slowest rate in the eight-month sequence of decline.