Brussels - Euro zone industrial production in November rose much more than expected, signaling stronger momentum behind the bloc's economic recovery in the last quarter of 2013.
Industrial production in 17 countries sharing the euro jumped 1.8 percent on the month in November, after an upwardly revised 0.8 percent drop in October, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday.
The monthly rise, the euro zone's strongest since May 2010, was fuelled by a 3.0 jump in the output of capital goods and a 2.2 percent rise in the production of durable consumer goods, such as electronics and cars.
Economists in a Reuters poll expected production to increase 1.4 percent on the month, against a previously reported 1.1 percent decline in October.
Compared with the same period of last year, industrial production rose 3.0 percent in November after a upwardly revised 0.5 percent rise in October.
The data points to a slight acceleration of the economic recovery of the 9.5 trillion euro economy in the last quarter of 2013 compared with the previous three months, when it nearly stalled because of a weak performance of France and Italy.
Production in the bloc's largest economy, Germany, grew 2.4 percent on the month in November, showing its strongest rise since July 2011, while output in the second largest France rose 1.4 percent.
President Francois Hollande is to unveil a new reform agenda on Tuesday afternoon to give fresh impetus the economy.
Ireland, which successfully exited from an international bailout last year, saw production surging 11.7 percent on the month, marking the strongest growth since January 2006.
The southern periphery, where the crisis erased tens of thousands of jobs and sent countries into the arms of international creditors, saw some improvement as Spain's output returned to growth and Portugal's production was up by 1.5 percent. - Reuters