Activity in the UK manufacturing sector improved more than expected in August, according to data released on Thursday.

The Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index climbed to a ten-month high of 53.3, recovering from the 41-month low of 48.3 in July following the EU referendum.

Economists had been expecting a reading of 49.0.

Manufacturing production increased at the fastest pace in seven months in August, which was an improvement on the contraction registered the previous month.

All three of the market groups covered by the survey returned to growth, with the strongest expansion in the consumer goods sector.

Rob Dobson, senior economist at survey compilers Markit, said: “The August PMI data indicate a solid rebound in the performance of the UK manufacturing sector from the steep downturn that followed the EU referendum.

“Companies reported that work that had been postponed during July had now been restarted, as manufacturers and their clients started to regain a sense of returning to business as usual. The domestic market showed a marked recovery, especially for consumer products, while the recent depreciation of sterling drove higher inflows of new business from the USA, Europe, Scandinavia, Middle East and Asia.”

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “The Markit/CIPS manufacturing suggests that the industrial sector is recovering swiftly from its soft patch immediately after the referendum, but we would caution against concluding that the dominant services sector also has experienced a sudden transformation.”