A worker welds a metal furnace in a factory in Gravellona Lomellina, 45km (27 miles) southwest of Milan, June 11, 2013. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

ROME - Italian manufacturing expanded for the 12th month running in January, but at the slowest rate since September, a survey showed on Monday, pointing to a continuation of modest economic growth.

The Markit/ADACI Purchasing Managers Index fell to 53.2 in January from 55.6 in December, its highest in nearly five years.

January’s reading was the weakest in four months but still above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction.

A Reuters survey of 11 analysts had pointed to a smaller decline, to 55.0.

January’s fall reversed a run of three consecutive increases, and the survey showed both output levels and new orders growing considerably more slowly than in December. The new orders sub-index dropped to 54.4 from 58.0.

The euro zone’s third-largest economy is estimated to have grown around 0.8 percent last year, about half the euro zone average, after gross domestic product fell for three straight years from 2012 to 2014.

The government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is forecasting growth will accelerate to around 1.6 percent this year, although recent economic data has been mixed.