BRUSSELS, June 23 (Xinhua) -- A further solid rise in business activity in June rounded off the strongest quarter of economic expansion across the 19-country eurozone for over six years, a survey showed Tuesday.
The Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of the eurozone fell from a six-year high of 56.8 in May to a five-month low of 55.7 in June, according to data monitoring company Markit.
However, the average PMI reading for the second quarter -- 56.4 -- was above the 55.6 reading seen in the first three months of the year and was the highest since the first quarter of 2011.
"Despite the June dip, the average expansion in the second quarter has been the strongest for over six years and is historically consistent with gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerating from 0.6 percent in the first quarter to 0.7 percent," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at Markit.
Williamson said the upturn was broad-based, with the surveys signalling an acceleration of GDP growth in both France and Germany in the second quarter, as well as across the rest of the region as a whole.
"Job creation continued to run at one of the highest rates seen over the past decade as firms expanded capacity to meet demand," the economist said, adding that factory jobs growth remained particularly buoyant, due in part to production requirements surging higher on the back of rising exports.
