China's business climate index, a major gauge of the country's macroeconomic outlook, continued to fall in the second quarter, tracking the slowdown of the world's second largest economy, according to a latest survey.

The quarterly index dropped to 126.9, 0.4 points lower than in the first quarter, a milder decline compared with the 0.5 dip in the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

China's economic growth cooled to 7.6 percent in the second quarter, the lowest reading since 2009, as a result of sluggish exports, the domestic property market and its self-geared slowdown of fixed-asset investment.

The index reflecting entrepreneurs' anticipation of future operations was down 2.6 points from the first quarter, whereas the figure indicating their views on the current business situation climbed 2.9 points, citing results of a survey conducted among 21,000 industrial enterprises.

Businessmen in the IT and social services industries felt most optimistic about their businesses.

Among the manufacturing industries, entrepreneurs from petroleum, iron and steel sectors felt the worst about their economic operations, with indices under 100.

The index for industrial enterprises in China's central regions was higher than that of their counterparts in the eastern or western regions.

The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading of 100 demarcates expansion from contraction.

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