Construction boosts German industrial production in March

Industrial production in the euro area's largest economy was boosted by construction sector activity last month.

Total German industrial production shrank by 0.4% month-on-month, according to the Ministry of Finance.

That was better than forecasts calling for a drop of 0.7%, but downwards revisions to data for previous months meant the year-on-year rate of output fell to 1.9% (consensus: 2.5%) after a rise of 2.0% in February.

Construction output added to February's month-on-month jump of 9.9%, rising by 1.3%.

Despite that, for the first quarter of 2017 as a whole total industrial production was 1.3% higher, following a rise of 0.4% at the tail-end of 2016.

Output of capital goods declined by 1.2% in comparison to February, but after a combined rise of 4.1% over the prior two months.

Energy output shrank by 2.5%.