The headline seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index recorded a level of 54.0 in October. That was an improvement on the previous month’s 52.5 and represented the strongest growth since June. Activity has now increased in each month throughout the past five years.

Commenting on the PMI data, Paul Smith, Economics Director at IHS Markit said: “Following earlier data showing the stabilisation of the manufacturing economy, there was also a welcome upturn in service sector activity during October, raising hopes that the recent slide in economic growth has been arrested. “Overall composite output subsequently increased at the best rate since June and suggests that GDP growth is tracking at a level of around 0.5% at the start of the fourth quarter. “Such an increase in GDP would be a decent level of growth heading into 2019, especially as downside risks to the outlook are building. Indeed, private sector business confidence slipped to its lowest level in over five years during October as the global economic environment turns increasingly chilly.”