Russian Services Activity Contracts In June

(RTTNews) - The Russian service sector activity logged renewed decline in June amid a slower rise in new orders along with historically muted client demand, survey results from S&P Global showed on Thursday.

The services purchasing managers' index, or PMI, dropped to 49.2 in June from 52.2 in May. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction. Further, The fall brought to an end an 11-month sequence of expansion.

New orders continued to increase in June, though the pace of growth lost momentum. The overall rise was attributed by companies to customer referrals and competitive pricing.

Companies reduced their workforce numbers for the second straight month as expectations for the year ahead outlook slid to the weakest since July 2023. Meanwhile, backlogs of work grew for the eighth successive month.

On the price front, input price inflation eased to the slowest in just over five years as costs had fallen amid efforts by suppliers to drive new sales. As a result, selling price inflation softened to the weakest in four-and-a-half years.

The composite output index dropped to 48.5 in June from 51.4 in May, indicating a contraction in the Russian private sector economy, as both manufacturers and service providers recorded lower output levels.