Berlin - German investor confidence rose slightly in September, a key indicator released Tuesday showed as Europe's biggest economy appeared to stabilize. The Mannheim-based Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) said its monthly index measuring the mood among analysts and institutional investors climbed 1.6 points to 57.7.
"The economic expectations for Germany are consistent with the picture that the German economy is recovering, but at a slow pace," said ZEW president Wolfgang Franz.
The indicator showed a further stabilization of the positive economic expectations of financial experts, he said.
Hopes for a further improvement of the German economy depended mainly on a recovery of the global economy and better prospects for German exporters, the survey showed.
But it warned that prospects for the next six months were burdened by the end of the car scrappage scheme that breathed new life into the ailing car industry and by an anticipated rise in unemployment.
The latest signs that the economic gloom in Germany is drawing to a close comes as the country gears up for a national election on September 27.
The ZEW report sets the stage for other major European economic sentiment surveys later in the month, including Germany's closely watched Ifo business confidence survey.
Germany climbed out of its steepest economic decline in more than six decades in the second quarter, with the country's economy growing at 0.3 per cent in the three months to end of June. Analysts had predicted a second-quarter slump of 0.2 per cent.
The second-quarter data prompted a round of upward revisions in growth projections, with analysts now expecting the economy to shrink by less than 5 per cent this year instead of a previously forecast 6 per cent plus contraction.
