BRUSSELS: Business activity in the 17-nation eurozone ticked up in December, but the recovery is uneven and weak French data of particular concern, a key survey showed on Monday.
Markit Economics' said its Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for December rose to 52.1 from 51.7 in November.
"The rise in the PMI after two successive monthly falls is a big relief and puts the recovery back on track," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
"The upturn means that, over the final quarter, businesses saw the strongest growth since the first half of 2011, and have now enjoyed two consecutive quarters of growth."
However, the growth is uneven, with France posting a fall for the second month running, while the EU's economic engine Germany powered ahead.
"It's the unbalanced nature of the upturn among member states that is the most worrying," said Williamson
"France looks increasingly like the new 'sick man of Europe', as a second successive monthly contraction may translate into another quarterly decline in GDP (gross domestic product), pushing the country back into a technical recession," he noted.
"In contrast, the December survey data round off a solid quarter of growth in Germany, in which GDP looks set to rise by 0.5 percent."
Growth was also variable across sectors.
Manufacturing led the upturn with output rising for the sixth straight month.
For services however, the rate of growth slowed for the third consecutive month.
"There's little here to suggest that euro area policymakers need to increase their stimulus, but on the other hand the sluggish nature of the upturn adds to the sense that policy will remain ultra-accommodative for quite some time," it said.
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