Eurozone construction output ticks higher

(Sharecast News) - The Eurozone's under-pressure construction sector picked up in May, official data showed on Monday. According to first estimates from Eurostat, the official statistical office of the European Union, production in construction sparked 0.4% in May, up from 0.1% in April, and by 0.3% in the wider bloc. Year-on-year, and production jumped 1.2% in the Eurozone and 1.8% in the EU.

Driving the monthly growth was a 1.4% rise in specialised construction activities, which helped offset weaker performances in construction of buildings and civil engineering, where production fell 0.7% and 0.5% respectively.

Among individual member states, the highest monthly increases were seen in Austria, the Netherlands and France, where production improved 1.3%.

In Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, production rose 0.9%, building on April's 0.3% uplift. In contrast, production was flat in Italy and slid 2.8% in Spain, reversing the previous month's 0.3% increase.