By Giorgio Schiavoni
ROME (MktNews) - Italian industrial output, adjusted for seasonal factors and number of working days, is estimated to fall 1.6% in April from March and to shed 1.5% year-on-year, employers' association Confindustria said Friday.
The group also estimated that average adjusted output in March and April was down 0.6% compared with the average of the first two months of the year.
Most recent official industrial output data, released by national statistics institute ISTAT for February, came in slightly above expectations, though still falling an adjusted 0.3% month-on-month.
Earlier this month the IRS think-tank, the other prominent group which makes monthly industrial production estimates for the month in progress, made an identical -1.6% month-on-month forecast as Confindustria for April's output.
Both Confindustria and IRS have estimated a month-on-month rise in March after the falls in January and February.
Official April data is to be published by ISTAT on June 14, with March's numbers due out on May 15.
There is one more working day this April than last (19 vs 18). This is reflected in Confindustria's estimate of unadjusted year-on-year output, seen up 2.9% (compared with the work-day adjusted estimate of -1.5%).
Confindustria's report also estimated industrial sales and orders data for April, both expressed in inflation adjusted year-on-year terms.
Sales are seen rising 6.1%, stemming from a 6.4% increase in foreign sales and a 5.8% rise in domestic sales, while new orders are estimated to climb 4.4%.
The group offered no breakdown into domestic and foreign orders. --