The British manufacturing sector continued growth on the improving economic conditions with the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rising to 51.3 in May, hitting 14-month high, said a market sensitive report on Monday.

According to the report jointly issued by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), the rise of the Markit/CIPS PMI was achieved based on the acceleration of growth of production and new orders.

A PMI reading of 50 or greater indicates expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction.

"The domestic market was the main driver of new order inflows, although new export business also contributed with a modest increase," the report said.

The report also upgraded the PMI from 49.8 to 50.2 for April.

Rob Dobson, a senior economist at Markit, said, "one of the more positive features of the expansion is its broad-base, with producers of consumer, intermediate and investment goods all reporting stronger output growth.

"Although the domestic market was the main impetus to new order inflows, demand from overseas markets at least managed to keep its head above water, as higher demand from Asia, North America and pockets of the Eurozone, notably Germany, kept the recovery in new export order alive."

He held that the improving economic figures would add further weight to the central bank's decision to "wait-and-see before adding to its accommodative policy stance."

However, CIPS CEO David Noble warned that the improvement of the manufacturing performance is still building from a low base. Endi

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