Falling business confidence and further evidence of a housing slowdown could make next week’s decision on interest rates a close call, say analysts – even though a closely-watched survey on Friday showed service sector activity had held up better than expected in November.

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and NTC, the research group, said its index of service sector activity had improved from 51.9 in October to 52.4 last month, above forecasts of greater deterioration.