PARIS, April 23 (Reuters) - Business morale in France brightened in April after hovering at record lows in previous months, fuelling hope that the worst of the recession in the euro zone's second-biggest economy may be over.
French national statistics office INSEE said on Thursday its monthly business confidence index rose to 71 in April from an unrevised 68 in March, beating analysts' expectations for a reading of 69.
"Business morale had been largely in continous decline since April 2008 ... Now, not only do we have an improvement but a strong improvement of three points which confirms that the worst is behind us," said Marc Touati, an economist with brokerage Global Equities.
Analysts zoomed in on a leap in figures for the general business outlook, which improved to -18 from -66 in March.
The data appeared on the same day that an influential survey showed the pace of decline in French private sector activity moderated further in April.
A flash estimate of the Markit/CDAF composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) -- which combines data from firms in the services and manufacturing sectors -- rose for the second month running to 43.5 in April after hitting 41.4 in March.
A reading below 50 still indicates a contraction, but April's improvement in the index outstripped expectations, taking the measure of private-sector activity to its highest level in six months, Markit said.
"April's PMI data suggest that the worst may be over for the French economy after severe contractions in output during the previous two quarters," said Markit economist Jack Kennedy. (For a table of business confidence data, please double click on [ID:nPAB004762] (For a separate story on the PMI data, please double click on [ID:nLAG003395] (Reporting by Tamora Vidaillet and Vicky Buffery, editing by Mike Peacock)