Industrial new orders rebounded 1.4% across the euro zone in October following a sharp 4.2% drop the previous month, according to the latest figures from the EU's statistics agency.
A range of data from the agency, Eurostat, and from market monitoring group Markit painted a picture of firming orders for industry, rising industrial prices and resilient sentiment among purchasing managers in the industrial and services sectors.
But the rise in industrial orders, however, was not as strong as hoped by analysts, who had expected a 1.7% increase.
Eurostat said there was a strong 5% rise in new orders for durable consumer goods across the 16 euro zone countries - now 17 since Estonia joined on January 1 - and a 4.1% rise across the 27-nation European Union. Non-durable consumer foods increased by 1.6% and intermediate goods by 1.3%.
Eurostat revised down its September estimate, initially down 3.8%.
Across the euro zone, the highest increases in new orders included Greece, with 9.5%, while significant drops were seen in Luxembourg, with -3.6% and Belgium with a fall of 2.7%.
Compared on an annual basis, new industrial orders registered a 14.8% increase across the euro zone. The 27-nation EU saw a monthly increase of 0.6% and a year-on-year hike of 14.3%.
In line with slowly rising inflation across the area, industrial prices were up 0.3% in November compared with the previous month, the 14th month the index has shown an increase, Eurostat said.
The steepest rises were in the energy sector, with a 0.9% increase, while intermediate goods and non-durables rose 0.2% in the euro area and 0.3% in the EU 27.
Among member states for which data is available, the highest increases were recorded in Ireland and Greece, both at 1.3%. The bloc's two biggest economies, France and Germany, saw increases of 0.2 and 0.4% respectively.
Meanwhile, the euro zone recovery was maintained in December, according to the closely-watched purchasing managers' index (PMI) survey, a leading indicator of activity.
The Markit indicator of industrial and services activity remained stable at 55.5, better than a previous estimate of 55, and on par with November - following falls over three months.
