German exports, imports unexpectedly rise in July

German exports unexpectedly edged up in July but imports rose even more, narrowing the trade surplus slightly, data showed on Monday, in a sign Europe's largest economy remains relatively resilient to the euro zone crisis.

Exports inched up a seasonally adjusted 0.5% and imports gained 0.9%, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. The consensus forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists were for exports to drop 0.5% and imports to fall 0.3%.

The seasonally-adjusted trade surplus narrowed to 16.1 billion euros from a revised 16.3 billion in June. The consensus forecast for it to narrow to 15.5 billion euros.