It registered 57.2, up from 56.7 in November. This remains above the critical 50 mark, the figure indicating no change on the previous month.

New orders were up for the seventy-fourth month running. Commercial builders posted the sharpest rise in activity, with the fastest growth for 57 months.

Housing grew at a strong rate, but civil engineering contracted for the first time in four months, although only marginally.

In services, the CIPS/NTC Research business activity index was buoyant, despite falling from 56.7 in November to 54.9.

Some services companies said clients had deferred placing new contracts until 2005.

Manufacturing, too, recorded a decline to 53.7 from 55, suggesting a slower rate of growth.

But purchasing managers in manufacturing said strengthening new business orders, especially export orders for Europe and the Far East, continued to ensure a healthy growth rate.