Germany's Ifo business climate indicator edged up in November, but analysts warned they wanted to see more evidence of an upturn before declaring the economy out of danger.
Data released by the institute this morning showed a slight rise in the key West German index to 84.9, from 84.7 in October, its first rise since July. The expectations component was stronger, but businesses' assessment of current conditions dropped.
The West German measure of business expectations rose to 90.9 from 89.6, while the current conditions component of the index fell to 79.1 from 79.9 points in October.
Mr Gernot Nerb, the economist in charge of the survey at the Ifo institute, said the slight increase was no signal of a trend change for the German economy. But the rise in expectations at least is a first sign the downtrend is slowing, he told Reuters.
Only a rise over three consecutive months is a certain signal of a recovery, he said.
The euro continued to edge higher against the dollar after the news and touched a one-month high above $0.9060 as investors bet the bottom may have been reached.
The Ifo index is based on a survey of around 7,000 German firms and is seen as a reliable indicator of growth in Germany. The broad climate index for east Germany rose to 97.3 from a revised 96.5 a month earlier.