China's national business climate index (BCI) dropped slightly in the first quarter of this year but still ran at a high level of 131.5, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.

The index declined by 0.2 points from the fourth quarter of 2005 and is 1.0 points down from the same period of last year.

The mining sector recorded the highest BCI of 159.1 points, though the figure is 3.4 points down from the previous quarter.

BCIs for manufacturing, computer services and software industries stood at 127.9 and 153.8, respectively.

BCI for real estate sector rose significantly by 5.4 points over the last quarter of 2005 while the figure for the wholesale and retail sector went up by 3.2 points.

BCI for power, gas and water supply rose by 8.4 points over the same period of last year.

BCIs for large and middle-sized enterprises increased by 1.1 points and 0.6 points over the previous quarter, respectively. BCI for small companies dipped by 2.3 points.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2006)