The headline HSBC Poland Manufacturing PMI remained below the neutral 50.0pts mark for the 12th successive month in March. Furthermore, it fell to 48.0pts from 48.9pts a month ago (after 5 months of growth), according to Markit, the firm that compiles the index. Market consensus was 49.0pts. The latest figure was the lowest since October, although the average for the first quarter was the highest since Q2 of 2012 (at 48.5pts, up from 48.0pts in Q4 of 2012). New orders declined for the fourteenth successive month. The overall rate of contraction was little-changed from February's moderate pace, despite a sharper fall in new export business, Markit reported. The decline in new work from export markets was the fastest since November, it added. Input prices fell for the seventh time in nine months , while manufacturing employment declined for the seventh month running in March, the longest sequence of job shedding in over three years. The PMI data, coupled with expectations of further fast deceleration of inflation, may increase hopes that the Monetary Policy Council (MPC) will renew its policy loosening cycle.
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