PARIS, Aug 5 Reuters France39;s dominant services sector picked up in July helped by business from the Olympic Games, a survey showed on Monday.

The HCOB France final purchasing managers index PMI for the services sector, compiled by SP Global, rose to 50.1 in July from 49.6 in June, broadly in line with the 50.7 reading from an earlier flash estimate.

Any figure below 50 points marks a contraction in activity, while above 50 shows an expansion.

A composite final PMI, combining data from the services and manufacturing sectors, rose to 49.1 points from 48.8 the previous month.

Hamburg Commercial Bank economist Norman Liebke said the Olympic Games which runs from July 26 to Aug. 11 in Paris had given an uplift to the services sector.

The Olympic Games are boosting the French economy. According to anecdotal evidence, there are companies for which the Olympic Games are generating unusually high business activity in July, he wrote.

This does, however, mean that business activity might drop in September when the Olympic Games are over. Additionally, lower uncertainty due to the end of the election period increased activity levels, he added, referring to parliamentary elections in France which concluded on July 7.

In the third quarter, the French economy might grow in the ballpark of 0.5 to 0.6 because of the Olympic Games and due to stronger growth in the service sector, which we also might see in the August HCOB PMI figures.

Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing…