MUNICH – A strong euro, with its effect on the export sector, may be a factor in a levelling off or even slippage in the Ifo-Institute’s monthly business confidence index due out on Tuesday, some analysts were predicting Monday.

A survey of experts by the business news wire dpa-AFX showed many seeing the mood of German business having turned cautious amid the euro’s steady run at near record-highs.

For the first time, Ifo-Institut on Tuesday will be issuing a business climate index for Germany as a whole, and not separate readings for eastern and western Germany.

The Munich economic think tank, one of Germany’s six leading independent research units, in early February reported a revised pan- German index for the month of January showing a reading of 97.5 points, up from 97.0 points in December.

In the dpa-AFX survey, many analysts foresee the February index possibly edging up to 97.7 points. But other analysts believe a drop in the index may be possible.

Ifo-Institut said that despite the still wide gap in the levels between east and west, the overall business trends in all regions of the country were now fairly aligned with each other so that there was no longer a need for separate regional reports.

Ifo-Institut’s business climate index is based on a survey of some 7,000 executives.