LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) – The euro extended gains against the dollar on Tuesday, while Bunds eased after data showed Germany’s ZEW index improved in March and beat expectations. German ZEW institute’s economic sentiment index was -3.5 in March versus -5.8 in February, and much stronger than forecasts of -7.4. The think tank also said the bottom of the recession was likely to be reached this Summer.
The euro rose to $1.3010 from around $1.2980
Euro zone government bond futures fell slightly, with the June Bund contract FGBLM9 down 12 ticks on the day at 123.08 from 123.20 before release of the data.
Ten-year Bund yields turned flat and were at 3.153 percent
“I think euro/dollar reacted quite favourably to the ZEW, which was much better than expected,” BNP Paribas currency strategist Ian Stannard said. (Reporting by Jessica Mortimer and Tamawa Desai)
What is the ZEW?
The ZEW index is an economic index of the Mannheim Center for European Economic Research (ZEW). Here are some 400 analysts and institutional investors for their medium-term expectations for the economy – and capital market development were interviewed. The economic expectations indicator shows the difference between positive and negative estimates for the future economic development at the sight of six months in Germany again.Der ZEW-Index gilt als richtungweisend f
