Expanding exports and domestic consumption pushed Germany's economy -- Europe's biggest -- to grow slightly faster than expected between April and June, preliminary data showed on Friday.

With a 0.4 percent increase in calendar- and seasonally-adjusted terms, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew slightly slower than the previous quarter's 0.7 percent, a statement from federal statistics office Destatis said, but twice as fast as analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted.