Markit Economics released final services purchasing managers' index (PMI) for France on Tuesday. France's final services purchasing managers' index (PMI) increased to 49.9 in March from 49.2 in February, down from the preliminary reading of 51.2.

The index was mainly driven by rises in backlogs of work and input prices.

"March PMI data round off a broadly flat performance of the French service sector on average over the first quarter. There remains little sign of the stagnancy lifting - although business expectations rose to the highest since last August they remain subdued in historical terms," Senior Economist at Markit Jack Kennedy said.