PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French manufacturing confidence rebounded slightly in April and returned to its long-term average, survey results from the statistical office INSEE showed Thursday.
The manufacturing confidence index rose to 100.0 in April from 99.0 in March. The score was forecast to remain stable at 99.0.
The increase in April was driven by the rebound of the balances on past production and on global order books.
The balances of opinion associated with the overall order books improved to -16 from -18. The opinion regarding past production also strengthened, and the index rose to 3 from -2 in March.
Meanwhile, the indicator for personal production expectations eased to 7 from 9, and that for general production outlook turned more negative and fell to -18 from -10.
Evolution of workforce size, both past and expected, weakened in April. The index for past workforce size dropped to -2 from -1, and the expected workforce size decreased to -1 from zero.
The index measuring the expected trend in selling prices over the next three months increased notably to 19 from 10 in the previous month.
Further, the survey showed that the overall business confidence index, which is calculated from the responses of the business managers from manufacturing, construction, services, retail, and wholesale trade, weakened sharply to 94 in April from 100 in the previous month.
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