Belgian business confidence rises above forecasts in November

Business confidence in Belgium rose more than expected in November, led by a sharp improvement in sentiment in busines-related services and construction.

The Belgian central bank's headline confidence index advanced from a reading of 0.5 for October to 1.6 in November, beating economists' projections for a reading of 0.8.

Despite the improvement in an index which is closely-correlated to the German IFO institute's own business sentiment gauge, which was due to be published on the following day, the yield on the benchmark 10-year bund was flat at 0.35% as of 1805 GMT.

In parallel, euro/dollar was ahead by 0.28% to 1.1853.

By sectors, the sub-index for manufacturing confidence was up by 0.2 points at -0.2, that for business-related services by 4.7 points to 12.4, that for building by 1.3 to -0.4, while the sub-index for trade was off by 0.9 points to -2.4.