German business confidence rises in June

[FRANKFURT] German businesses are feeling increasingly optimistic as the outlook brightens for Europe's biggest economy, a closely-watched barometer showed on Friday, in a poll conducted before the British EU referendum.

The Ifo institute's business climate index rose by 0.9 point to 108.7 points in June, the leading economic think-tank Ifo said in a statement.

That was highest level since November 2015.

"The German economy remains buoyant," Ifo president Clemens Fuest said in a statement.

"Satisfaction levels with the current business situation were only slightly higher, but the short-term business outlook improved significantly."

Ifo calculates its headline index on the basis of companies' assessments of the current business environment and the outlook for the next six months.

The sub-index measuring current business edged up by 0.3 point to 114.5 points but the outlook sub-index climbed by 1.4 point to 103.1 points, the institute said.

The poll did not take into account the outcome of the British referendum where Britons decided 52 per cent to 48 per cent in favour of quitting the EU, triggering a meltdown in financial markets on Friday.

AFP