German investor sentiment rises in January: ZEW

FRANKFURT, Jan 21 (AFP) :  Investment sentiment in Germany rose for the third month in a row in January, shrugging off the market turmoil sparked by the Greek political crisis and the Swiss franc shock, a survey found on Tuesday.

The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute jumped 13.5 points to 48.4 points in January, its highest level in 11 months, ZEW said in a statement.

"The new year started with turmoil in the capital markets. News of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Greece and the Swiss National Bank's decision to abandon the euro cap on the franc's value have led to strong stock market fluctuations," said ZEW president Clemens Fuest.

"However, this seems not to have impressed ZEW's financial market experts with regard to their expectations for the German economy. Instead, decreasing crude oil prices and a depreciating euro have contributed to a further gain of the indicator," Fuest said.

For the survey, ZEW questions analysts and institutional investors about their current assessment of the economic situation in Germany, as well as their expectations for the coming months.