Investing.com – Germany's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell even further in September, bolstering optimism over the health of the euro zone's largest economy, official data showed on Friday.
In a report, Germany's Federal Statistics Office said its jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 5.6% in September.
That was a record low and beat consensus who had expected unemployment to remain steady at 5.7%.
Additionally, the number of unemployed people fell by a seasonally adjusted 23,000 from a month earlier, compared to forecasts for a drop of just 5,000. Jobless claims fell by 6,000 in the previous month which was revised up from an initial decline of 5,000.
Immediately following the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1794 compared to 1.1804 ahead of the release, while EUR/GBP was at 0.8798, compared to 0.8805 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets traded mostly higher in early morning trade. Germany's DAX gained 0.20%, the Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.14%, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.06%, while London’s FTSE 100 traded up 0.41%.