New industrial orders in the European Union rose 1.6 per cent in July after falling 0.6 per cent in June, although they were down almost 25 per cent year-on-year, according to Eurostat numbers.

Orders for durable consumer goods increased 6.9 per cent, those of intermediate goods rose 4.1 per cent, although orders for capital goods fell 1.8 per cent, Eurostat said.

The highest increases were recorded in Sweden (+10.2 per cent), Poland (+6.1 per cent) and Denmark (+6.0 per cent). The largest decreases were seen in Ireland (-8.5 per cent), the Czech Republic (-3.8 per cent) and Latvia (-3.6 per cent).