German economic recovery hopes rise

German analyst and investor sentiment rose in November for the first time in almost a year, surpassing expectations and raising hopes of an improvement in Europe’s biggest economy after it dodged recession in the third quarter.

The euro rose to a day high against the dollar and Bund futures reversed gains after the survey was published yesterday, although economists warned against reading too much into the rise as the index was still at a low level.

Mannheim-based think tank ZEW’s monthly survey of economic sentiment rose to 11.5 points from minus 3.6 points in October, way over the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts for a rise to 0.5 points. It was the first rise since December last year.