EZ manufacturing still hit by weak demand - PMI

(Sharecast News) - The malaise in eurozone manufacturing activity worsened last month on the back of anaemic demand despite price cuts at the factory gate, with companies axing more jobs as a result, a survey showed on Thursday.

HCOB's final eurozone manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), fell to 45.7 in April from March's 46.1, and below the 50 mark denoting growth in activity. The figure was just ahead of a 45.6 preliminary estimate.

"What is going to rescue the euro zone economy? While this is a difficult question, one thing is clear: It's not the manufacturing sector. Instead, this sector is prolonging its drawn out recession into April," said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.

"In a bid to dampen the adverse impact of lower new order intakes on production, euro area manufacturers made further inroads into their backlogs of work in April," The rate of depletion was sharp overall and marginally faster than that seen in March. Job losses were nevertheless sustained, extending the current period of falling employment that started in June last year."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com