China's business confidence continues to improve in Q2: Central bank survey

BEIJING - Business confidence among China's entrepreneurs continued to improve in Q2, a central bank survey showed Tuesday.

The entrepreneur confidence index rose for the fifth straight quarter, rising to 65.4 from 61.5 the previous quarter, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

Another PBOC survey showed bankers' confidence in the economy also improved in the second quarter to 67.8 from 64.9 in the first quarter.

Some 30.1 percent of bankers surveyed believed monetary policy is now "relatively tight," up from 20.3 percent in the first quarter.

The survey came as China's banking system was faced a mid-year liquidity strain due to seasonal factors including quarter-end regulatory reviews and tax payments, as well as tightening financial supervision.

According to a survey of 20,000 urban households, 31.2 percent of those polled expected China's housing prices to rise in the July-September period, while 9.6 percent of them said housing prices would fall.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter this year, accelerating from 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2016.