Eurozone's investor confidence increased in September to the second-highest level on record, and to a significantly larger extent than economists had forecast, as the region emerged from its long-drawn recession in the second quarter, a closely watched survey revealed Monday.

Data from a survey conducted by think-tank Sentix showed that the headline investor confidence index for the Eurozone climbed to 6.5 in September from -4.9 in August.

Economists were looking for a score of -4. The September reading was the highest since May 2011. The headline index has returned to the positive territory for the first time since July 2011.

In September, Euro area investors were notably less downbeat about the current situation, with the corresponding sub-indicator rising sharply to a two-year high of -8.8 from -22.3 a month earlier.

At the same time, the measure of respondents' expectations for investments over the next 6-month period advanced to 23 from 14.3 in August. A higher reading in this series was last registered in April 2006.