German factory orders rebound in December on large-scale demand

German factory orders bounced back in December as large-scale orders boosted demand, according to official data released on Monday.

Factory orders rose 3.2% in December compared with a 4.4% fall in November on a price-adjusted basis, the statistics office Destatis said.

The increase was mainly driven by large-scale orders, in particular for electricity distribution apparatus, engines and turbines, and air and spacecraft machinery, Destatis said. Excluding these, orders actually fell 0.6% in December.

Domestic orders were up 5.7%, while foreign orders rose 1.2%, including a 9.8% rise in eurozone orders and a 3.8% fall in the rest of the world.

"This is a solid upside surprise, especially factoring-in the revisions, but the reality remains that the December leap in new orders failed to reverse the slide midway through the quarter," said Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com