Irish service sector growth at 7-year high

Dublin - Growth in Ireland's services sector held near a seven-year high in May, easing only slightly as an expansion in employment and new export business moderated, a survey showed on Thursday.

The Investec Purchasing Managers' Index of activity in the services sector, which covers businesses from banks to hotels, inched down to 61.7 in May from 61.9 in April - the highest reading since 2007 - but stayed far above the 50 point line denoting growth.

"While most components in today's report point to a moderation in the rate of expansion, we would not be particularly concerned given that the white-hot rate of growth recorded in the sector during April was unlikely to be maintained for long," Investec Ireland chief economist Philip O'Sullivan said.

"Taken together with the decent Manufacturing PMI report earlier this week, today's release bodes well for the performance of the wider Irish economy during Q2 and beyond," he said.

All of the services sub-indexes showed expansion, but the new export business PMI slipped to 59.1 from 63.2 and the rate of job creation slipped to its lowest level since November.