The insurance sector recorded the largest growth among 19 business sectors across Asia in December 2018, maintaining the strong results tallied in the previous month.

According to the Asia Sector Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) study conducted by Nikkei and HIS Markit, insurance had the highest growth score of 58.8 among 14 out of the 19 monitored business sectors. This comes after the insurance sector notched its highest growth score for the past 61 months in November 2018.

PMI scores above 50 signify that a particular sector is growing, while those below 50 indicate shrinking. Aside from insurance, pharmaceuticals & biotechnology and transportation also recorded strong growth last month.

Meanwhile, the metals and mining sector, as well as automobiles and auto parts, registered a decrease in output growth for the third consecutive month. Metals and mining slumped to 45.1 from November’s 45.3.