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The latest figures reveal that construction growth continued to slow in May, hitting a three-month low.
Published today (June 6th), the Markit/CIPS' UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 54.4 last month, down on the 55.8 registered in April and the 56.7 seen in March.
Although anything above 50.0 signals growth, business confidence for the next 12 months was much less positive in May than in April, with this measure experiencing the greatest month-on-month fall since June 2010.
"This reassessment of the year-ahead outlook represents worries within the construction sector that weakening economic conditions could leave firms running on empty again once existing projects have come to completion," said Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit.
Despite May's less positive readings, the PMI, which is based on monthly replies to questionnaires given by purchasing executives in over 170 construction companies, has now not fallen below the magic 50 mark since January 2011.
Author: Economics Correspondent Graham Pontin (gpontin@acenet.co.uk or 0207 227 882)
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