PARIS (Reuters) - French business activity has expanded in August, a survey showed on Thursday, offering signs of resilience for the euro zone's second-biggest economy which has recently been slowing down.
Data compiler IHS Markit said its flash composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 52.7 points from 51.9 in July, beating a Reuters forecast for a reading of 51.8 points.
A reading above 50 indicates that activity is expanding, while anything below that level signifies a contraction.
The services PMI rose to 53.3 points from 52.6 in July, while the manufacturing PMI advanced to 51.0 points from 49.7 in July. Both the services and manufacturing flash PMI numbers beat Reuters forecasts.
Last month, official data showed that French economic growth slowed down slightly in the second quarter to 0.2% from 0.3% in the previous quarter.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
