BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone economic sentiment improved more than expected in April and inflation expectations among companies and consumers rose, data from the European Commission showed on Thursday.
Economic sentiment in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose to 103.9 this month from 103.0 in March, beating market consensus of a rise to 103.4.
The improvement was due to more optimism in industry, services, the construction sector and among consumers.
Separately, the Commission's business climate index, which points to the phase of the business cycle, improved to 0.13 in April from an upwardly revised 0.12 in March. The improvement was, however, lower than market forecasts of a rise to 0.14.
Consumer expectations of price trends over the next 12 months rebounded from a slump in March and rose to 2.9 in April from 2.1 the previous month, but remained well below the long-term average of 19.3.
Companies' expectations of developments in producer prices also rose to -2.4 from a revised -4.6 in March.
The European Central Bank carefully watches inflation expectations in its monetary policy decisions. The bank aims for inflation in the euro zone to be below, but close to 2 percent, over the medium term.
Consumer inflation was flat year-on-year in March, up from -0.2 percent in February. Eurostat will release its first estimate of price growth in April on Friday.