The economic sentiment indicator ( ESI) for both the euro-zone and the European Union (EU) as a whole rose in July, implying no "serious" economic damage caused by terrorist attacks on London on July 7, the European Commission (EC) said on Friday.

The ESI for the EU increased by 1.4 points in July, ending its decline which started last October, while in the euro area, the ESI improved by one point, confirming its recovery of last month, showed a survey issued by the executive body of the EU.

The EU's economy watchdog attributed the ESI increase to "the evolution of the euro's exchange rate," "the recent stabilization of oil prices" and "an incipient upturn in the global growth cycle."

Among the larger EU member states, economic sentiment improved in Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain, remained more or less steady in France, and deteriorated slightly in Spain.

The EU executive specially noted that terrorist attacks on London on July 7 led to no significant consequences on economic sentiment.

"As for the UK, where a large part of the survey data was collected after the terrorist attacks of July 7, the significant rebound of the indicator suggests that these events did not seriously affect economic sentiment," said the report.

The report also said the brightening of the economic sentiment was driven by rising confidence in industry and in the service sector.

Moreover, confidence in the construction sector also registered a slight improvement while confidence in retail trade saw a small deterioration. As to consumers, confidence remained unchanged in both areas.

Source: Xinhua