German new manufacturing orders rose in May after falling for four straight months as domestic and eurozone orders increased from April.

Price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing increased by 2.6% month over month in May following seasonal and calendar adjustments, after falling by a downwardly revised 1.6% in April, provisional data from the country's Federal Statistics Office showed. Econoday's consensus estimate was a 1.1% increase.

Weak economic activity in the first few months of the year was due to one-off factors, such as the weather, the flu and public holidays, Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Germany, said, adding that the German economy could rebound during the second half.

Domestic orders were up 4.3% in May from April and foreign orders increased by 1.6%. New orders from the eurozone increased 6.7%, but orders from other countries were down 1.3% from the prior month. New capital goods and consumer goods orders increased, while new orders for intermediate goods declined from the previous month.

On a year-over-year basis, price- and calendar-adjusted new orders increased by 4.4% in May after increasing by a revised 0.8% in April.

The price-adjusted turnover in manufacturing edged up by 0.9% month over month in May after seasonal and calendar adjustments, following a decrease of 0.1% in April.