German investor confidence at a high after Nov turnaround

Frankfurt

GERMAN investor confidence rose to the highest level in a year in February, buoyed by the imminent arrival of fresh central-bank stimulus.

The ZEW Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim said on Tuesday that its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, climbed to 53.0 from 48.4 in January. Economists had forecast an increase to 55.0, according to the median of 32 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

Growth accelerated at the end of last year in Germany, the region's largest economy, helping the rest of the currency bloc to better-than-forecast output. With oil prices and the euro sinking, and the European Central Bank scheduled to start quantitative easing next month, investors have stayed upbeat even as the mounting risk of a crisis in Greece threatens renewed…