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Euro zone sentiment defies expectations of stabilisation, drops in March

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone economic sentiment fell for the third consecutive time in March, mainly because of falling confidence among consumers and in the construction and services sectors, European Commission data showed on Wednesday.

The cut off date for the collection of the data was before the Brussels bomb attacks that happened on March 22, the Commission said.

The EU executive said that economic sentiment in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to 103.0 points in March from 103.9 in February. It was at 105.0 in January and at 106.6 in December when it started to decline on a monthly basis.

The drop in March is deeper than forecast by economists polled by Reuters who expected a stabilisation at 103.8.

The Commission's business climate indicator, which points to the phase of the business cycle, increased slightly in March to 0.11 from 0.09 in February, driven up by managers' assessment of past stocks, while export order books were seen more negatively.

Consumer sentiment fell to -9.7 from -8.8, adding to concerns about the ultra-low inflation in the bloc.

Confidence in the services sector, the biggest generator of gross domestic product in the euro zone, fell to 9.6 from 10.8, while confidence among manufacturers eased to -4.2 from -4.1.

For European Commission data click on:

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/index_en.htm

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Jan Strupczewski)