Euro zone economic sentiment fell for the third consecutive month in March, mainly because of falling confidence among consumers and in the construction and services sectors, European Commission data showed today.
The cut off date for the collection of the data was before the Brussels bomb attacks that happened on March 22, the Commission noted.
The EU executive said that economic sentiment in the 19 country euro zone fell to 103 points in March from 103.9 in February.
The index had stood at 105 in January and at 106.6 in December when it started to decline on a monthly basis.
The drop in March is deeper than forecast by economists polled by Reuters who expected a stabilisation at 103.8.
The Commission's business climate indicator, which points to the phase of the business cycle, increased slightly in March to 0.11 from 0.09 in February, driven up by managers' assessment of past stocks, while export order books were seen more negatively.
Consumer sentiment fell to -9.7 from -8.8, adding to concerns about the ultra-low inflation in the bloc.
Confidence in the services sector, the biggest generator of gross domestic product in the euro zone, fell to 9.6 from 10.8, while confidence among manufacturers eased to -4.2 from -4.1.
