ROME, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Business confidence has slightly improved in Italy, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Wednesday.

Boosted by higher expectations on order books and business trend assesments, the business confidence index (ISTAT Economic Sentiment Indicator, or IESI) went up from 98.6 points in September to 99.0 points in October, the institute said in a report.

Confidence rose from 99.0 points to 99.6 points in the manufacturing sector, with improvements registered in expectations on both production and assessment on order books and on inventories.

In the market services sector, the confidence index moved up from 98.6 points to 99.6 points due to higher expectations on order books and assessments on business trends (while the assessments on order books deteriorated).

The retail confidence index also increased from 107.6 points in September to 108.3 points in October.

ISTAT explained that "the retail trade confidence index improved in the large-scale distribution from 110.4 to 111.5, but deteriorated in the small and medium-scale one from 99.7 to 98.9."

Construction was the only industry sector showing a worsening climate in October, with the confidence index dropping from 143.2 points to 141.3 points month-on-month.

Finally, the consumer confidence index has slightly deteriorated over the same period, moving from 112.2 points in September to 111.7 points in October, the report showed. Enditem

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