Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence Improves In November

(RTTNews) - Eurozone investor confidence rose more-than-expected in October reflecting the easing situation on the European gas and electricity markets, survey results from the behavioral research institute Sentix showed Monday.

The Sentix investor sentiment index rose to a three-month high of -30.9 in November from -38.3 in October. The score was forecast to rise moderately to -35.0. This improvement is still not a trend reversal signal, the institute noted. "But the rise in situation and expectation values shows how sensitively investors react in their economic expectations to signals from the energy market," Sentix said.

The think tank said October showed higher temperatures than usual and this means that gas storage facilities in Germany, for example, are full to the brim, more than expected for November.

Consequently, spot market gas prices declined sharply. "Concerns about a catastrophic gas shortage are fading," added Sentix.

The current situation indicator came in at -29.5, up from -35.5 in the previous month. The expectations indicator improved to -32.3 from -41.0 in October.

In Germany, the investor confidence index climbed to -30.0 in November from -37.4 in the previous month.

The current situation index stood at -28.0 versus -33.5 in October. Likewise, the expectations indicator advanced to -32.0 from -41.3 a month ago.

Official data last week showed that the euro area economy grew only 0.2 percent sequentially in the third quarter, after the 0.8 percent expansion a quarter ago. Meanwhile, the German economy logged an unexpected quarterly growth of 0.3 percent.

The International Monetary Fund last month said the Eurozone is to witness a pronounced slowdown on energy crisis. The currency bloc was forecast to expand 3.1 percent this year and 0.5 percent next year.