BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Euro zone industrial production fell in November from a year earlier, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday, defying market expectations of a small increase mainly due to a sharp drop in the output of capital goods.
Eurostat said industrial output in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 2.3% month-on-month but still fell 1.5% year-on-year. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.5% monthly rise and a 0.6% annual gain.
Figures for October were also sharply revised downwards to a decline of 1.3% in the month and a 0.2% year-on-year gain from previously reported rises of respectively 1.1% and 3.3%
The surprise year-on-year fall in November was mainly caused by a 9.8% slump in the production of capital goods, which pulled down the overall reading despite a 4.4% rise for durable consumer goods and a 6.1% rise for non-durable consumer goods. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
