German investor confidence remained buoyant in February, according to a report released by the ZEW Center for European Economic Research.

The ZEW indicator climbed by 0.3 points in February, the fourth straight monthly increase, to hit 15.7 points. However, this value is below the indicator's historical average of 26.7 points, ZEW said.

The almost unaltered level of the indicator suggests that financial market experts have remained confident about the recovery of the German economy, according to ZEW. The degree of capacity utilization of German enterprises has increased above its ten-year historical mean, the report said.

February’s small rise in the headline German ZEW index suggests that, for now at least, investor sentiment is continuing to be buoyed by the reasonably upbeat economic data, according to Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics.

The headline economic sentiment index, which measures investors’ six-month expectations for the German economy, rose less sharply than anticipated, May pointed out. The Ifo business survey, which will be released early next week, will give a more accurate outlook of the prospects this year, he noted.

Separately, government data showed on Tuesday Germany's gross domestic product rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of the last year.

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