Investing.com - German economic sentiment deteriorated to the lowest level since December 2012 in October, fuelling concerns over the euro zone's largest economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment fell by 10.5 points to minus 3.6 this month from September’s reading of 6.9.
Analysts had expected the index to decline by 5.9 points to 1.0 in October.
The Current Conditions Index deteriorated to 3.2 this month from 25.4 in August, worse than expectations for a decline to 18.0.
Meanwhile, the index of euro zone economic sentiment plunged to 4.1 in September from 14.2 in August, below expectations for a decline to 7.1.
On the index, a level above 0.0 indicates optimism, a level below 0.0 indicates pessimism.
"Geopolitical tensions and the weak economic development in some parts of the Eurozone, which is falling short of previous expectations, are a source of persistent uncertainty," says ZEW President Professor Clemens Fuest.
He added that, "These factors are tarnishing growth expectations in Germany. Disappointing figures concerning incoming orders, industrial production, and foreign trade have likely contributed to the growing pessimism among financial market experts."
EUR/USD was trading at 1.2673 from around 1.2684 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7940 from 0.7945 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained lower. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 inched down 0.7%, France’s CAC 40 shed 0.65%, Germany's DAX lost 0.5%, while London’s FTSE 100 slumped 0.5%.