ZEW economic sentiment index for Germany cools unexpectedly

Economic sentiment in the euro area's largest economy cooled unexpectedly in April amid worries about the hit to activity from tighter mobility restrictions, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.

The ZEW institute's economic expectations index fell by 5.9 points from March to reach 70.7.

Economists had penciled-in an improvement from March's reading of 76.6 to 79.1.

Nonetheless, the institute itself pointed out that the expectations gauge remained at a "very high level".

Furthermore, a separate index linked to the current situation strengthened from the month before, by 12.2 points to -48.8, rising back roughly to the level that it was at in March 2020.

A separate index tracking the expectations of financial market experts for the Eurozone fell by 7.7 points on the month to 66.3, while that for the current situation improved by 4.3 points to 65.5.