BRUSSELS, Nov 28: Eurozone consumer confidence weakened in November, offsetting an improvement in the business climate and causing the zone’s overall economic sentiment index to fall, the European Commission said on Friday.

The Commission said its euro-zone economic sentiment indicator fell to 98.6 points in November from a downwards-revised 98.8 in October.

For the full 15-member European Union — the euro zone plus Britain, Denmark and Sweden — the index fell 0.1 point in November to 99.1 after stabilising in October at 99.2.

The commission said the euro zone industrial confidence indicator rose slightly in November while the consumer sentiment indicator fell.

Separately, the European Union’s statistics arm Eurostat said inflation in the euro zone slowed in November to 2.2 per cent on a 12-month basis from 2.3 per cent in October.

Nonetheless, the rate remains above the two-per cent ceiling tolerated by the European Central Bank. Economists had been expecting inflation to have been stable or even to have increased slightly.

The figure, which is only a preliminary estimate based on data from Belgium, Germany and Italy, reinforced market expectations for the Europen Central Bank to cut interest rates at its next policy-setting meeting on December 5.—AFP