French industrial output rose more than expected in August, rising 1.8 per cent from the previous month on the back of a surge in car production, according to new data.
The monthly rise contrasted with a forecast rise of 0.5 per cent from economists polled by Reuters and was fuelled by an 11 per cent rise in production of transport equipment, including an 18.2 per cent rise in the car segment.
The data, which follows a rise in industrial output in Germany, added to signs that France, the euro zone's second biggest economy, is slowly pulling out of the sharpest downturn since World War Two.
There was a 5.6 per cent rise in production of metal goods and a 2.7 per cent rise in manufacture of rubber, plastics and other non-metals goods but a 4.2 per cent decline in textiles and clothing manufacturing and a 2.1 per cent drop in chemicals.
Reuters