BRUSSELS, June 25 (Reuters) - Euro zone industrial new orders plunged by more than a third year-on-year in April, a record decline led by falling demand for capital and intermediate goods, data showed on Thursday.
Orders fell 1.0 percent month-on-month for a 35.5 percent annual drop, European Union statistics office Eurostat said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a flat monthly reading and a 32.3 percent year-on-year fall.
A slowdown in the decline in orders in March had raised hopes that the downturn was bottoming out, but the sharp fall in April could signal a recovery may take longer to start in earnest.
Orders for intermediate and capital goods, which reflect on investment trends, fell 38.3 percent and 39.1 percent year-on-year respectively, underlining the depth of the economic recession.
Orders for durable consumer goods dropped by 26.0 percent in annual terms and non-durables by 8.9 percent.
Economists believe the first quarter of this year was the low point of the euro zone recession, the worst economic downturn in Europe since World War Two. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Dale Hudson)