Swedish consumer, business sentiment inches higher in February

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sentiment among households and businesses inched higher in Sweden in February, with house-builders and retailers bucking the trend, data from the NIER think tank showed on Friday.

Consumer confidence rose to 59.9 points from an upwardly revised 57.7 points in the previous month. The overall sentiment index rose to 85.7 points from a revised 83.3 points.

Sentiment in the building sector fell 2.1 points to 94.5 points with retail down 0.7 points to 77.9 points.

(Reporting by Simon Johnson, editing by Essi Lehto)