Euro zone sentiment indicator, lending data confirm lukewarm growth

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Bank lending to euro zone firms held steady last month while a key EU economic sentiment indicator edged up in November, adding to evidence that the currency bloc continues to grow steadily, even if only at a modest pace, latest data showed on Thursday.

The euro zone economy has proven unexpectedly resilient to trade shocks and uncertainty this year but growth remains unspectacular and the bloc keeps falling further and further behind global peers.

While the domestic economy keeps humming along on steady consumption, exports, the engine of growth in the past decade, continue to struggle as industry is losing its competitiveness, China is crowding out Europe in key markets and U.S. tariffs bite.

The European Commission's Economic Sentiment indicators rose to 97.0 in November from 96.8 a month earlier, a marginal improvement that masks the diverging fortunes of key sectors.

The industrial confidence indicator fell again after a small improvement a month earlier and consumer confidence was steady.

Construction, however, jumped and there was also a notable rise in the services indicator, leaving the overall index in slightly positive territory.

Meanwhile, credit growth to businesses was unchanged at 2.9% in October compared to the previous month and loan growth to households accelerated to a 2-1/2-year high of 2.8% from 2.6%.

The M3 measure of money circulating in the euro zone, often an indicator of future activity, was also steady at 2.8%, in line with expectations in a Reuters poll of analysts.

(Reporting by Balazs KoranyiEditing by Alexandra Hudson and Tomasz Janowski)