In the United Kingdom, the Bank of England committed to one more month of asset purchase under its £200 billion quantitative easing policy yesterday and kept interest rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent. The Central Bank had previously indicated that the big decision on the future of its asset-buying programme would take place next month. Meanwhile, house prices in Britain rose for a sixth consecutive month in December, increasing by one per cent to bring their total rise since April's low to 9.4 per cent, according to mortgage lender Halifax.

Moreover, December's rise followed a revised 1.3 per cent gain the previous month, which means the average property ended the year 5.6 per cent higher than when the year started. The recovery in Britain's housing market has surprised many commentators who predicted the declines incurred in 2008 would be repeated last year.

Britain's services sector accelerated slightly in December after registering the strongest growth in new orders since September 2007 and boosting economists' belief that the country has moved out of recession in the fourth quarter of the previous year. In fact, the business activity index rose to a reading of 56.8 from November's 56.6, which is slightly above economists' forecasts and just below October's 27-month high of 56.9. The modest improvement in the services Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) also follows a strong gain in the equivalent manufacturing survey. In fact, British manufacturing activity expanded at its fastest pace in more than two years in December as the PMI index increased to a reading of 54.1, following a surprising drop to 51.8 in November.

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