BERLIN (AP) — A survey shows that business confidence in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has beaten economists' expectations to rise to a six-year high as companies take a brighter view of their current situation.

The Ifo institute said Monday that its closely watched confidence index rose to 112.9 points for April from 112.4 in March. Economists had expected it to stay at 112.4.

However, the managers surveyed are a bit less optimistic about the outlook for the coming six months following a significant improvement in that measure in March.

Ifo surveys some 7,000 companies for its monthly index. Monday's reading is the highest since July 2011.