Hopes that the Bank of England will unleash a fresh round of quantitative easing on Thursday to kickstart the economy have been boosted by a weaker-than-expected survey of Britain's key services sector.

The Purchasing Managers' Index for services fell to 51.3 in June from 53.3 in May, suggesting the sector grew at its weakest pace in eight months, against the background of renewed turmoil in the eurozone.

UK services PMI

The weak reading undermined hopes of a sharp rebound from the double-dip recession, after similar surveys for manufacturing and construction showed declining output.

Howard Archer, of consultancy IHS Global Insight, said the survey "further undermines hopes that the economy avoided further contraction in the second quarter, especially as it was handicapped by the extra day public holiday resulting from the Queen's diamond jubilee".

Services make up around three-quarters of GDP. The gloomy mood could win over one more members of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to the cause of quantitative easing – buying government bonds using electronically created money. Sir Mervyn King, the bank's governor, was one of four MPC members who backed the move last month.

"The services economy saw one of its worst months since the recovery began three years ago, with the June survey showing signs of growth stalling," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at data compiler Markit. "The services PMI probably cements the case for further stimulus from the BoE."

Firms also reported that they had been forced to cut their prices in the face of weak consumer demand, and felt much less optimistic about the prospects for the next 12 months than they had in May.

Separate PMI surveys released for the eurozone showed services firms have continued to cut output as the sovereign debt crisis takes its toll on demand.

The composite PMI, which measures the strength of services sector across all 17 member countries of the eurozone, registered 46.4 in June, edging up from 46 in May but still suggesting a downturn in the sector.

"Even Germany looks to have fallen into a renewed decline, though only a very modest drop in output is signalled. The pace of downturns in other major euro member states is far more worrying," said Williamson. Following a weak reading from the manufacturing survey recently, the PMIs across the eurozone are pointing to a contraction of 0.6% in the region's economy in the second quarter of 2012, and could help spur policymakers at the European Central Bank to cut interest rates from their record low of 1% when they meet on Thursday.