Mubasher: Germany’s economic sentiment declined month-on-month in February, but remained above analysts’ forecasts, signaling a continued optimism among investors in the largest European economy.

ZEW research institute’s economic sentiment index fell to 17.8 points this month, compared with 20.4 points in January, remaining below the long-term average of 23.7 points, data on Tuesday showed.

Economists had expected a sharper decrease towards 16.5 points in February.

Meanwhile, the assessment of the current economic situation in Germany went down 2.9% to 92.3 points, according to ZEW’s data.

“The latest survey results continue to show a positive outlook for the German economy,” ZEW President Achim Wambach said.

As for the Eurozone, economic sentiment eased by 2.5 points to 29.3 points.

By 10:35 am GMT, the EUR/USD pair fell 0.56% to $1.2338.