German factory orders recovered and increased at a faster-than-expected pace in December, figures from Destatis showed Thursday.
Factory orders grew a seasonally and working-day adjusted 4.2 percent month-on-month in December, much faster than economists' expectations for a 1.5 percent increase.
In November, orders declined a revised 2.4 percent, the same rate of decline as in October.
The latest order growth was the strongest since July, when demand rose 4.8 percent.
Domestic orders climbed 3.4 percent in December and orders from export market surged by 4.8 percent.
New orders from the euro area rose 5.9 percent from the previous month and bookings from other countries gained by 4.0 percent.
Manufacturers of intermediate goods recorded increases in new orders of 2.8 percent and orders of capital goods grew by 5.7 percent.
Meanwhile, demand for consumer goods registered a fall of 0.6 percent.
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