German factory orders rebound in March

New orders received by German manufacturing companies rebounded in March mainly due to strong demand from abroad, official data showed on Monday.

Adjusted for seasonal and working-day swings, German factory orders increased by 1.9 percent in March, following a monthly decrease of 0.8 percent in February, said German federal statistics office Destatis.

The surge in March was the strongest since June last year, and was mainly due to buoyant foreign demand, the statistics office said.

While domestic orders decreased by 1.2 percent, new orders from the euro zone went up by 1.1 percent in March. Meanwhile, orders from countries outside the common currency area jumped by 6.2 percent.

In the first quarter, new orders rose by 0.5 percent compared with the last three months of 2015.

"Despite the gloomy external environment, the German industry was able to record a significant increase in orders from abroad," said the German Federal Economy Ministry in a statement, adding that it expected a "moderate upswing" in the industry.