Eurozone manufacturers see continued growth

The eurozone's manufacturing base expanded in September, showing growth for the third consecutive month and beating analysts' expectations, according to data released Monday.

NTC Economics' eurozone manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index (PMI) remained steady at 56.6 points, confounding the expectations of the experts for slight drop to 56.5 points.

A reading above 50 signals that the sector is expanding.

"The manufacturing PMI suggests that growth in the sector has held up well in the third quarter," said Kevin Gaynor of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

NTC said the improvement has been driven by good domestic demand and new export orders, backed by employment growth.

Global Insight economist Howard Archer said: "The euro zone manufacturing sector remains impressively robust."

"Following on from the very strong eurozone economic sentiment data for September, the manufacturing PMI adds to the evidence that the eurozone economy currently remains buoyant," he said.