The euro zone economic sentiment indicator has hit its highest level since mid-2001, rising to 105.3 in April from 103.6 in March, the European Commission said on Friday.

This is the fifth consecutive monthly rise for the indicator, which is based on business and consumer surveys and reflects general economic activity of the euro zone.

The industrial confidence component of the indicator rose to 1 from minus 1, while consumer confidence improved to minus 10 from minus 11. Economists had forecast no change for both the industrial and consumer confidence.

Services sector confidence rose to 18 from 15, retail sentiment was unchanged at minus 1, and construction was flat at minus 3.

The main impetus behind the rise of the sentiment indicator was the positive developments in the industry and the services sectors, the commission said.

At the country level, Spain and Italy recorded improvements of 2.4 and 2.8 points respectively. More moderate rises were registered in Germany (1.8) and France (0.4).

The commission's euro zone business climate indicator also posted a sharp rise, jumping to 1.12 -- its highest level since December 2000 -- from 0.81 in March.

The commission said the upturn suggests "that industrial production growth should be sustained throughout the first half of this year."

It attributed the increase to marked improvements in managers' assessment of the production trend observed in recent months and of both total order books and export order books.

Source: Xinhua