German investor confidence falls

Berlin: German investor confidence unexpectedly fell for the first time in five months in March after the European Central Bank said it may raise interest rates and Japan’s biggest earthquake on record caused a slump in global stocks.

The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict developments six months in advance, declined to 14.1 from 15.7 in February.

Economists had expected a gain to 15.9, according to the median of 38 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.