(BRUSSELS) - Factories in the 15 nations sharing the euro saw a surprise jump in new orders, although much of the improvement was due to orders for trains and planes, according to official EU data on Tuesday.

New industrial orders in the eurozone grew 1.0 percent in July from June and rose 1.6 percent compared with the same month in 2007, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said.

The result confounded economists' forecasts for orders to fall 0.9 percent over one month and 3.9 percent from July 2007, as polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

The figures marked an improvement from June when new orders fell 0.5 percent over one month and slumped 7.2 percent over one year, according to revised figures from Eurostat.

However, much of the upturn in July was driven by a jump in orders for transport equipment, which includes such things as trains and airplanes and which can vary widely from one month to another.

Transport equipment orders surged by 10 percent in July over one month and 4.8 percent over one year.

Meanwhile, in the 27-nation EU, new industrial orders rose 2.3 percent over one month in July and 2.8 percent over one year.

Industrial new orders - further details (Eurostat)

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