Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence At 35-Month High

(RTTNews) - Eurozone investor confidence reached its highest level since April 2011 in March, underpinned by a notable improvement in the current situation assessment, a survey conducted by the think tank Sentix showed on Monday.

The composite confidence index rose to 13.9 from 13.3 in February, while economists had forecast it to rise to 14. However, it was the highest score since April 2011.

The assessment of current situation climbed to 4.8, the highest since July 2011, from 1.8 in February. The current conditions index turned positive in February for the first time since August 2011.

However, the expectations index declined for the first time since September. The score came in at 23.5 in March, down from 25.5 in February.

Although there is a lot of talk about an expectations bubble concerning the euro area, Sentix said the expectations index signals that this bubble does not exist.

Moreover, the gap between economic expectations and investors' assessments of the current situation is becoming ever smaller as expectations are adjusted to the downside.

This might just be a breather, but it could also point to less economics dynamics for the Euro zone in the quarters ahead, said Sebastian Wanke, a senior analyst at Sentix.

The European Central Bank forecasts the 18-nation bloc to grow 1.2 percent this year, before accelerating to 1.5 percent in 2015.

According to a survey from Bank of France, the French economy is expected to expand 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2014, unchanged from the previous estimate.