Forexpros – The euro zone’s M3 money supply grew less-than-expected in April, while private loan figures also came in below expectations, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the European Central Bank said M3 money supply in the single currency bloc rose at annualized rate of 2.5% in April, below expectations for a gain of 3.4%.
M3 money supply in the euro zone rose 3.1% in the preceding month, whose figure was revised down from 3.2%.
The three-month average of the annual growth rates of M3 in the period from February to April stood at 2.7%, unchanged from the previous three-month period.
Loans to private sector rose at a pace of 0.3% annually after rising 0.6% in March. Analysts had expected private loans to rise by 0.6% in April.
Following the release of the data, the euro held on to losses against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD shedding 0.36% to trade at a 22-month low of 1.2457.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly lower. The EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.9%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.1%, Germany’s DAX slumped 0.9%, while London’s FTSE 100 declined 1.1%.
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