The economic confidence in the euro zone edged down slightly, but remained near six-year high in June, the European Commission said on Friday.

The economic sentiment indicator in the 13-nation bloc sharing the same currency stood at 111.7 in June, slightly down by 0.4 point after hitting a fresh six-year high in May.

The monthly indicator based on business and consumer surveys, also remained practically unchanged in the EU at 114.9 points after 115 in May.

The surveys are conducted in different sectors of the economy, namely industry, services, construction and retail trade as well as consumers.

The stabilization of economic sentiment in the EU was the net effect of an increase in confidence in the industry sector offsetting declines in the services and retail trade sectors and among consumers. Confidence in the construction sector remained unchanged.

In the euro area, developments at the level of confidence indicators were broadly similar. Contrary to the EU, confidence improved in the construction sector, while it remained stable among industry managers.

At the level of individual countries, the picture is mixed, with an approximately equal number of countries reporting increases or decreases in sentiment.

Germany, the largest economy in the 27-nation bloc, registered a decrease of 0.4 point. The indicator remained practically unchanged in France and increased by 1.8 points in Britain.

Meanwhile, the business climate indicator for the euro zone picked up slightly in June after a decline in May, the European Commission said in a separate report released today.

Industry managers' assessment of their stocks of finished products and production expectations for the months ahead improved somewhat, while their views of both total order books and export order books deteriorated slightly. The assessment of the production trend observed in recent months remained unchanged.

The sustained record level of the indicator points to robust economic activity in the industry sector in the second quarter of 2007, despite the deceleration of industrial production growth in April, the commission said.

Source: Xinhua