Euro zone March orders rise fastest in 10 years y/y

BRUSSELS May 25 (Reuters) - Euro zone industrial new orders rose in March at their fastest rate in 10 years, data showed on Tuesday, giving a new sign that economic activity is likely to pick up strongly in the second quarter.

The European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, said industrial new orders in the 16 countries using the euro jumped 5.2 percent month-on-month in the euro zone for a 19.8 percent year-on-year rise.

The monthly rise is the highest since June 2007 and the annual increase is the strongest in a decade.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 2 percent monthly rise and a 14.6 percent annual gain.

Without the volatile orders for ships, planes and trains, the monthly increase in orders was 4.5 percent and the year-on-year jump was 20.2 percent.

Industrial new orders point to trends in economic activity as they translate into production over the coming months.

Orders in the euro zone's biggest economy, Germany, rose 5.7 percent on the month and surged 31 percent year-on-year.

The euro zone economy grew only modestly in the first quarter after stalling in the fourth, but stronger than expected March industrial output also suggested economic activity was picking up.

Economists have said euro zone growth is likely to accelerate to 0.5 percent in the second quarter after 0.2 percent growth in the first three months of the year and stagnation in the last three months of 2009.

For a table on the data, double-click on [ID:nBRQ009853]

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Marcin Grajewski, editing by Timothy Heritage)