The Chinese entrepreneurs confidence index dropped 5.0 points year on year to 127.6 points in the third quarter, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday.

The result comes from a quarterly survey of entrepreneurs in 19,500 companies of various kinds. The new index was roughly the same as that of the second quarter.

The NBS survey showed that the confidence index in sectors of social service and information transmission and software climbed over that of the second quarter, and those of the remaining sectors either dropped or stayed the same.

Compared with the same period last year, the confidence index in the sectors of social service, construction and information transmission increased a small degree, and those of all remaining sectors declined.

The confidence index of large-scale companies dropped 12.9 points year on year to 137.8 points in the third quarter, 2.0 points less than that of the second quarter.

During the same period, the confidence index of medium and small-sized companies kept stable over the previous quarter, with that of medium companies dropping 2.0 points year on year and that of small companies climbing 2.0 points.

Entrepreneurs of state-owned firms and limited companies were less confident in the third quarter than in the second one, but those of collectively-owned companies and private firms became more confident.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2005)