Eurozone economic confidence rises more than forecast

Eurozone economic confidence rose more than expected in September with markedly improved confidence across all business sectors, the European Commission said Friday.

The economic sentiment index climbed to 96.9 in September from 95.3 in August. It stayed above consensus of 96. Among components, improvements in construction and retail trade were particularly pronounced.

Retailers' confidence rose to -7 from -10.6 a month ago. Managers were particularly more positive about the present business situation. Also their assessments of the future business situation and the volume of stocks improved.

The construction sector registered the sharpest confidence increase of all surveyed sectors. Confidence in construction came in -28.8 in September, up from -33.2 in August.

Consumer confidence continued the upward trend persisting since December 2012. Sentiment rose to -14.9 from -15.6, thanks to more optimistic views on the future general economic situation, unemployment expectations and the future financial situation of household.

At the same time, industrial confidence increased 1.1 points to -6.7 in September driven by managers' much more positive assessment of production expectations and, less pronounced, the current level of overall order books and the stocks of finished products.

Services confidence rose to -3.3 from -5.2, resulting from managers' sharply improving appraisals of demand expectations, the past business situation and, to a lesser extent, past demand.

Elsewhere, the commission said business confidence rose marginally to -0.20 in September from -0.22 in August.