Euro zone investments fall, current account surplus widens in November: ECB

Reuters
Piles of two Euro coins are pictured in an illustration taken October 13, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Investments in the euro zone fell sharply in November while the bloc's current account surplus widened, the European Central Bank said on Thursday.

The 19-member currency bloc's seasonally and working-day adjusted current account surplus increased to 36.1 billion euros (31.3 billion pounds) from 28.3 billion euros in October, a rise after hovering near the same level since June.

Unadjusted direct and portfolio investments meanwhile turned negative, dropping by 6.3 billion euros after an inflow of 68.0 billion euros with direct investments falling by more than half and portfolio outflows rising sharply.

For the latest 12 months, the current account surplus widened to 3.4 percent of the bloc's GDP from 3.1 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Andreas Framke)