French business confidence weakened in March but remained close to its long-term average, survey data from the statistical office Insee showed Wednesday.
The business confidence index fell to 99 from 100 in February. It was forecast to remain unchanged at 100.
According to the business managers in the manufacturing sector, global order books balance improved but personal production expectations deteriorated from February.
The balance of opinion on personal production expectations fell to 7 from 11. Meanwhile, the balance on general production expectations, which represents business managers' opinion on French industry as a whole rose to zero from -8.
The balance of opinion on past change in production came in at -8 versus zero in February.
Both global order books and export order books improved compared to February. The global order books indicator improved to -22 in March from -25 in the prior month and the export order books rose to -13 from -15.
The business confidence in the service sector rose marginally to 93 from 92 in February. Likewise, the overall business confidence improved to 96 from 94 a month ago.
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