Business sentiment positive: survey

Chinese business conditions and sentiment have leapt ahead after three quarters of relatively flat conditions, results of the latest Xinhua Finance/MNI China Business Sentiment Survey suggest. Many of the survey indexes assessing current conditions for the first quarter of this year came close to or topped the results of the survey from the first quarter last year, the first and to date most positive result. The index for overall current business conditions was at 73.91, up from 67.41 in the fourth quarter of last year, but down from 78.03 in the first quarter last year. The survey was completed March 6-21 with 140 listed companies responding. A result greater than 50 implies growth or improving conditions.