Swedish Manufacturing Activity Contracts In July

(RTTNews) - Sweden's manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in six months in July, survey data from Swedbank and the logistics association SILF showed on Thursday.

The purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing sector dropped to 49.2 in July from 53.0 in June. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction.

"However, the decline should be interpreted with some caution as the level of activity in industry is normally lower in July due to holidays and planned maintenance work," Swedish bank analyst Jorgen Kennemar said.

The order intake sub-index hit a nine-month low in July and accounted for the largest negative contribution to the decline in the PMI total, followed by production and delivery times.

On the price front, cost pressures intensified in July as the index for suppliers' raw and input goods prices rose to 58.3 in July from 54.8 in June.