Business activity in Ireland's key services sector increased for the 19th consecutive month in December, but at a slightly slower pace than the previous month as the rates of growth in output and new business eased.
The seasonally adjusted NCB Purchasing Managers' Services Index slipped to 58.6 last month from 59.4 in November but stayed comfortably above the critical 50.0 "no-change" mark.
"Though the pace of growth in services activity eased a little in December, it was still among the best performances of the year," Dermot O'Brien, chief economist at NCB Stockbrokers, said in a statement.
The year 2004 ended with a "high and improving level of business confidence", he added. The business confidence part of the index rose to 76.4 in December from 74.4 in November.
At 57.1, the volume of new business reported by the Irish services sector was below the 60.5 in November, while the rate of growth in backlogs slowed to 53.2 from 54.2 and the pace of job creation weakened to 53.4 from 55.3.
In terms of prices, input costs facing Irish service providers continued to rise strongly in December but at 61.8 the rate of inflation was below the 63.0 seen in November and was down slightly for the second month in a row.
Prices charged by the sector for their services rose slightly but the rate remained modest at 51.3 versus 50.8 in November.