Germany's industrial output and its trade surplus were both hit by surprise falls in March, according to provisional figures published Friday by the federal statistics office, Destatis.

The slight fall of 0.5 percent in production after seasonal adjustments was counter to analyst expectations, which had predicted a modest rise of 0.4 per cent, said financial data firm Factset.

The slide is mostly due to a dip in earnings from investment products (-1.4 percent), Destatis said.

While German exports did grow by 1.2 percent over the month to 98.9 billion euros ($11 billion), imports rose faster to 79.6 billion euros, it said.