An independent survey of more than 2,000 companies in China’s industrial sector points to another consecutive period of contraction as cutbacks on overcapacity slowed significantly in the quarter ended September, the Financial Times reports. The Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business’s quarterly Report on China’s Industrial Economy indicates that while official Q3 GDP growth came in on-target, the new industry report’s headline business sentiment index stood at 46 for the same period. As with activity gauges such as purchasing managers’ indices, a reading below 50 indicates contraction, while a reading above it indicates expansion. Gan Jie, the professor at the business school who heads up the survey, said the survey did not support the view that property had driven China’s third-quarter gains. Only 13% of firms said they considered current operating conditions “good.”