Eurozone sentiment unexpectedly improves in October

[BRUSSELS] Eurozone economic sentiment unexpectedly rose in October, picking up from a near one-year low in September, in an indication that the bloc's struggling economy may be slowly improving.

Data from the European Commission showed that economic sentiment in the 18 countries sharing the euro, rose to 100.7 in October from 99.9 in September. The 22 economists polled by Reuters had on average expected the number to fall to 99.7.

The improvement was due to all business sectors becoming more optimistic, especially the retail, services and construction sector.

The business climate indicator also rose for the euro zone, rising to 0.05, as expected, from a downwardly revised 0.02 in September.

REUTERS