Fall In Services Index

The Index of Services (seasonally adjusted) for January 2010 was 104.8, a fall of 1.1% compared with January 2009. Business services and finance contributed most to the fall with a decrease of 2.2% within which banking reported the biggest decrease and architectural services and management consultancy also reported falls. In all, three of the five components reported a decrease. Distribution output increased by 1.7% and government and other services increased by 0.1%. Hotels and restaurants and transport, storage and communication were the other sectors that reported decreases.