German firms finished 2017 on a high note by recording the sharpest growth in business activity in more than six-and-a-half years, according to December's flash PMI survey from IHS Markit. Moreover, the overall performance in the manufacturing sector was the best seen since survey data were first collected in early-1996.

The IHS Markit Flash Germany Composite Output Index climbed to an 80-month high of 58.7 in December, after registering 57.3 in the penultimate month of the year. Growth accelerated across both manufacturing and services, with the latter seeing the steepest rise in business activity for two years. It was the goods-producing sector that continued to lead the way, however, recording the strongest expansion in output in almost seven years.