Investing.com - German economic sentiment rose much more than expected in September, bolstering optimism over the motor of the euro zone economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment rose to 17.0 this month from August’s reading of 10.0. Analysts had expected the index to increase to just 12.5 in September.
On the index, a level above 0.0 indicates optimism, a level below 0.0 indicates pessimism.
The Current Conditions Index also unexpectedly rose to 87.9 this month from 86.7 in August. That compared to expectations for a slight drop to 86.6.
Meanwhile, the index of euro zone economic sentiment increased to 31.7 in September from 29.3 a month earlier. Consensus was looking for a larger gain to 32.4.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1985 from around 1.1981 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.8889 from 0.8884 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were trading mixed. The benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 gave up 0.02%, Germany's DAX lost 0.19%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.04%, while London’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.24%.