Figures measuring business sentiment in Germany showed better than expected results today. This is an important and closely watched metric, and could suggest that the German economy is starting to find its feet again after a prolonged period of uncertainty.

The figures are compiled by the Ifo Institute and released every month. Business sentiment in Europe's largest economy rose from 103.2 to 104.7. To put that into context, a group of economists who were surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had actually expected the figure to fall to 103 this month.

The October figure represented a 22-month low. Ifo's president Hans-Werner Sinn commented that, “The downturn in the German economy has ground to a halt for the moment at least,” but he also pointed out that if this is to signal a significant change in the German economy, business sentiment will need to rise again in December.

Markit reported last week that German business output fell to a 16-month low in November. Germany will be hoping that these figures represent a bottoming-out of the recent slowing of the economy. The news comes after Germany narrowly avoided a technical recession in the third quarter, with the economy barely growing by 0.1 percent.

The change in sentiment is being put down to falling oil prices and decreases in the value of the Euro - which have improved the outlook for German exporters.