LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - European stocks and the eurowere hit on Thursday after a business survey showed the Germanmanufacturing sector contracted for the fourth month in a row,adding to concerns around the sector and pushing investors intothe safety of euro zone government bonds.
Activity in Germany's services sector rose to a seven-monthhigh in April, a survey showed on Thursday, but investorsfocused on the 44.5 reading for the manufacturing sector, wellbelow the 50.0 mark separating growth from contraction even ifit was above than the 44.1 reading recorded last month.
The euro EUR=EBS tumbled a quarter of a percent to theday's low at $1.1265 after the data. It was up as much as 0.1percent at $1.1304 before the data.
At 0735 GMT, the index .STOXXE was down 0.3 percent andFrankfurt stocks were down 0.2 percent.
German 10-year bond yields, meanwhile, were lower threebasis points at minus 0.5 percent, dropping further offWednesday's high of 0.10 percent. (Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee) ((Abhinav.Ramnarayan@thomsonreuters.com; 0044 777 555 1499;))
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