BERLIN — German factory orders in September rose an unexpectedly strong 3.3 per cent on the month, thanks to a particularly robust increase in foreign demand.

The Federal Statistical Office said Wednesday that while domestic orders of big-ticket items dropped 1 per cent over August, orders from outside Germany rose 6.8 per cent. Economists had been predicting a lower overall rise of 0.5 per cent, following drops of 0.3 per cent in August and 1.9 per cent in July.

UniCredit economist Andreas Rees said that the figures point to accelerating industrial demand from major export markets like France, Italy and Spain.

Even if one cannot draw any far-reaching macroeconomic conclusions from the latest eurozone data, it is the perfect wake-up call for all the growth pessimists still out there, he said in a research note.